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c, /st 6. —r 

THE 



Fortieth Congress 



OF TUB 



UNITED STATES : 



HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. 



By WILLIAM H. BARNES, 

AUTHOR OP THK " HISTORY OF THE THIRTT-NINTH CONGRESS," ETC. 



Jtith fiortraits on gfedl hv § corje f. ferine. 



VOLUME I. 

NEW YORK: 

INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

1 1 1 Nassau Stkeet. 

1870. 



(&" 






&S fKRED ACCORDING TO ACT OP CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 18^0. BT 

WILLIAM H. BARNES and GEORGE E. PERINE, 
in the Office of the Librarian op Congress, at Washington'. 






PEEFAOE. 




1 1IESE volumes delineate the men composing; the greatest 
l!a legislative body in the world. ISTo similar assembly is con- 
vened from such extended territory, represents so great a 
constituency, or possesses powers so immense, as the Congress of the 
United States. 

The Fortieth Congress will not suffer in comparison with any of 
its predecessors. It exhibited more practical statesmanship, sound 
wisdom, and effective eloquence than had been displayed by the 
legislative department in any previous period of American history. 
It is a popular error to assert that earlier Congresses were composed 
of men superior to those whose names adorn contemporary annals. 
"With a propensity to revere antiquity, we look backward through a 
golden haze which magnifies the statesmen of remoter times ; but 
observed carefully with critical eyes, and accurately measured by a 
modern standard, they lose their gigantic proportions. Thirty years 

ago but few statesmen exhibited such abilities as many living legis- 
ts §/ O o 

lators are now devoting to the public service. 

In the preparation of this work it has not been the author's task 
to single out the Eminent Americans and Men of the Times whose 
portraits and biographies should adorn these pages. The people 
themselves made the choice. Out of forty millions they selected 
those whom they regarded as best fitted lor their highest Legislative 
labors, and thus designated the men of all others most worthy of 
biographical and artistical illustration. 

In presenting this portraiture we hold the mirror up to the people 
that they may see themselves reflected in their Representative men. 
They may well be proud to belong to a nation which produces such 



2 PREFACE. 

men, and feel confident of the high destiny of a country whose inter- 
ests are confided to such statesmen. Youth who admire the por- 
traits will lie spurred to emulative activity when the;) learn from the 
biographies that the subjects were the architects of their own for 
tunes. Nearly all in early life walked the stony path of poverty, 
and arose to eminence by their unaided energy and talent. 

The biographies are plain, unvarnished narratives of facts, unbiased 
by political attractions or repulsions. They will be found to embody 
much of national as well as personal history. Concise war-histories 
of New York, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are to be found in the 
sketches of the late Governors of those States who were members of 
the Fortieth Congress. A history of the war itself may be gleaned 
from the military exploits of men who were as valiant in the field 
as they have since shown themselves wise in council. 

The material for the biographical portion of the work has been ob- 
tained from sources so numerous and varied that they cannot be par- 
ticularly designated. Hundreds of letters from persons in public and 
private life have furnished the author with numerous important facts 
never before published. Biographical hooks of reference, State His- 
tories of the Rebellion, numerous pamphlets and newspapers, have 
afforded valuable material. The sketches generally end abruptly 
and are necessarily incomplete, from the fact that their subjects, with 
a few exceptions, are still living to perform other distinguished and 
useful sen ices. 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS. 



VOLUME I. 



H 

23 



ABBOTT, JOSEPH C. ' 
^ANTHONY, HENRY B. 

BAYARD, JAMES A. 
• BUCKALEW, CHARLES R. 
"CAMERON, SIMON, 

- tjATTELL, ALEXANDER G. 

-chandler, zachariah 
33 "cole, cornelius, 

conkling, roscoe, 

conness, john, 

corbett, henry w. 

cragin, aaron h. 

davis, garrett, 
5t> dixon, james, 
j7 drake, charles d. 
51 Idoolittle, james^. 
£3 edmunds, george f 
.<$v ferry, orris s. 

fa "FESSENDEN, WILLIAM P. 

FRELINGHUYSEN, F. T. 
j $- FOWLER, JOSEPH S. 
GRIMES, JAMES W. 
HARLAN, JAMES, 

- "HARRIS, JOHN S. 

HENDERSON, JOHN B. 
HENDRICKS, THOMAS A. 
HOWARD, JACOB M. 
HOWE, TIMOTHY 0. ' 
JOHNSON, REVERDY, 
•KELLOGG, WILLIAM P. 
McCREERY, THOMAS C. . 

Mcdonald, Alexander, 

MORGAN, EDWIN D. 
"MORRILL, JUSTIN S. 



SENATORS. 

/ZiTMORRILL, LOT M. 

^t "MORTON, OLIVER P. 

/ jr NORTON, DANIEL S. 
6 /v NYE, JAMES W. 

/3S^0SB0RN, THOMAS W. 
5 PATTERSON, DAVID T. 
PATTERSON, JAMES W. 
POMEROY, SAMUEL C. 

jSy POOL, JOHN, 

'RAMSEY, ALEXANDER, 
RICE, BENJAMIN F. 
ROBERTSON, THOMAS J. 
ROSS, EDMUND G. 
SAULSBURY, WILLARD, 
SAWYER, FREDERICK A. 
SHERMAN, JOHN, 
SPENCER, GEORGE E. 
SPRAGUE, WILLIAM, 
STEWART, WILLIAM M. 
SUMNER, CHARLES, 
THAYER, JOHN M. 
TIPTON, THOMAS W. ■ 
TRUMBULL, LYMAN, 
VAN WINKLE, PETER G. 
VICKERS, GEORGE, 
WADE, BENJAMIN F. 
WARNER, WILLARD, 
WELCH, ADONIJAH S. 
WHYTE, WILLIAM P. ' 
WILLEY, WAITMAN T. 
WILLIAMS, GEORGE H. 
WILSON, HENRY, 
YATES, RICHARD. 



\S 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS. 



REPRESENTATIVES. 



■ 















ADAMS, GEORGE M. 
ALLISON, WILLIAM B. 
AMES, OAKES, 
ANDERSON, GEORGE W. 
ARCHER, STEVENSON, 
ARNBLL, SAMUEL M. 
-ASHLEY, DELOS R. 
ISHLEY, JAMES M. 
AXTELL, SAMUEL B. 
BAILEY, ALEXANDER H. 
BAKER, JEHU, 
BALDWIN, JOHN D. 
RANKS, NATHANIEL P. 
BARNES, DEMAS, 
BARNUM, WILLIAM H. 
BEAMAN, FERNANDO C. 
BEATTT, JOHN, 
BECK, JAMES B. 
BENJAMIN, JOHN P. 
BENTON, JACOB, 
BINGHAM, JOHN A. 
BLACKBURN, W. JASPER, 
BLAINE, JAMES G. 
BLAIR, AUSTIN, 
BOLES, THOMAS, 
i;o IT WELL, GEORGE S. 
BOWEN, C. C. 
BOYDEN, NATHANIEL, 
BOTER, BENJAMIN M. 
RROMWELL, HENRY P. H. 



BROOM ALL, JOHN M. 
BROOKS, JAMES, 
BUCKLAND, RALPH P. 
BUCKLEY, CHARLES W. 
BURR, ALBERT G. 
-/BUTLER, BENJAMIN F. 
3 : BUTLER, RODERICK R. 
CAKE, HENRY L. 
17-0 CALLIS, JOHN B. 

CARY, SAMUEL F. 
3 W >CHANLER, JOHN W. 
3*f CHURCHILL, JOHN C. 
CLARKE, READER W. 
i 3 ^CLARKE, SIDNEY, 
21 i COBB, AMASA, 
7 COBURN, JOHN, 
| | x COLFAX, SCHUYLER, 
COOK, BURTON C. 
CORLEY, SIMEON, 
CORNELL, THOMAS, 
/ u COVODE, JOHN, 

CULLOM, SHELBY M. 
DAWKS, HENRY L. 
3frV*DELANO, COLUMBUS, 
DENISON, CHARLES, 
f)EWEESE, JOHN T. 
DICKEY, OLIVER J. 
DIXON, NATHAN F. 
DOCKERY, OLIVER II. 
DODGE, GRENVUiLE M. 



VOLUME II. 
DONNELLY, loNATIUS, ELDREDGE, CHARLES A. 



DRIGGff, JOHN F 

ECKLEY, KIMIUAIM R. 
EGGLESTON, BENJAMIN, 

ELA, JACOB 11. 



ELIOT, 'I'll O.MAS D. 
ELLIOTT, JAMES T. 
PARNSWORTH, JOHN P. 
FERR1SS, ORANGE, 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS. 



FERRY, THOMAS W. 
FIELDS, WILLIAM C. 
FINNEY, DARWIN A. 
FOX, JOHN, 
FRENCH, JOHN R. 
GARFIELD, JAMES A. 
GETZ, J. LAWRENCE, 
GLOSSBRENNER, ADAM J. 
GOLLADAY, JACOB S 
GOSS, JAMES H. 
GRAVELLY, JOSEPH J 
GRISWOLD, JOHN A. ' 
GROVER, ASA" P. 
" HAIGHT, CHARLES, 
HALSEY, GEORGE A. 
HAMILTON, CHARLES M, 
HARDING, ABNER C. 
HAUGHEY, THOMAS, 
HAWKINS, ISAAC R. 
HEATON, DAVID, 
HIGBY, WILLIAM, 
HILL, JOHN 
HINDS, JAMES, 
HOLMAN, WILLIAM S. 
HOOPER, SAMUEL, 
HOPKINS, BENJAMIN F. 
HOTCHKISS, JULIUS, 
HUBBARD, ASAHEL W. 
HUBBARD, CHESTER D. 
HUBBARD, RICHARD D. 
HULBURD, CALVIN T. 
HUMPHREY, JAMES M. 
HUNTER, MORTON C. 
INGERSOLL, EBON C. 
JENCKES, THOMAS A. 
JOHNSON, JAMES A. 
JONES, ALEXANDER H. 
JONES, THOMAS LAURENS, 
JUDD, NORMAN B. 
JULIAN, GEORGE W. 



kelley, william d. 
kellogg, francis w. 
kelsey, william h. 
kerr, michael c. 
ketcham, john h. 
kitchen, bethuel m. 
knott, j. proctor, 
koontz, william h. 
laflin, addison h. 
lash, israel g. 
lawrence, george v. 
lawrence, william, 
lincoln, william s. 
loan, benjamin f. 
logan, john a. 
loughridge, william, 
lynch, john, 
mallory, rufus, 
mann, james, 
marshall, samuel s. 
marvin, james m. 
maynard, horace, 
McCarthy, dennis, 

McCLURG, JOSEPH W. 

Mccormick, james* r. 

McCULLOUGH, HIRAM, 
McKEE, SAMUEL, 
MERCUR, ULYSSES, 
MILLER, GEORGE F. 
MOORE, WILLIAM, 
MOORHEAD, JAMES K. 
MORRELL, DANIEL J. 
MORRISSEY, JOHN, 
MULLINS, JAMES, 
MUNGEN, WILLIAM, 
MYERS, LEONARD, 
NEWCOMB, CARMAN A 
NEWSHAM, JOSEPH P. 
NIBLACK, WILLIAM E. 
NICHOLSON, JOHN A. 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS. 



NOELL, THOMAS E. 
NORRIS, BENJAMIN W. 
NUNN, DAVID A. 
O'NEILL, CHARLES, 
ORTII, GODLOVE S. 
PAINE, HALBERT E. 
PERHAM, SIDNEY, 
PETERS, JOHN A. 
PETTIS, S. NEWTON, 
PHELPS, CHARLES E. 
PIKE, FREDERICK A. 
PILE, WILLIAM A. 
PLANTS, TOBIAS A. 
POLAND, LUKE P. 
POLSLEY, DANIEL, 
POME ROY, THEODORE M. 
PRICK, HI I! AM, 
PRUTN, JOHN V. L. 
RANDALL, SAMUEL W. 
RAUM. GREEN B. 
ROBERTSON, WILLIAM H. 
ROBINSON, WILLIAM E. 
ROOTS, LOGAN H. 
ROSS, LEWIS W. 

SAWYER, PHILETUS, 

SCHENCK, ROBERT C. 

SCOFIELD, GLENNI W. 

SELYE, LEWIS, 

SHANKS, JOHN P. C. 

SHELLABARGER, SAMUEL, 

SITGREAVES, CHARLES, 

SMITH, WORTHINGTON C. 

SPALDING, BtJFUS P. 

STARKWEATHER, HENRY H. 

STEVENS. AARoN F. 

BTEVENS, THADDEUS, 

STEWART, THOMAS E. 



STOKES, WILLIAM B. 
STONE, FREDERICK, 
STOVER, JOHN H. 
SYPHER, J. HALE, 
TABER, STEPHEN, 
TAFPE, JOHN, 
TAYLOR, CALEB N. 
THOMAS, FRANCIS, 
TRIMBLE, JOHN, 
TRIMBLE, LAWRENCE S. 
TROWBRIDGE, ROWLAND E. 
TWICHELL, GINERY, 
UPSON, CHARLES, 
VAN AERNAM, HENRY, 
VAN AUKEN, DANIEL M. 
VAN HORN, BURT, 
VAN HORN, ROBERT T. 
VAN TRUMP, PIIILADELPH, 
VAN WYCK, CHARLES BL 
VIDAL, MICHEL, 
WARD, HAMILTON, 
WASHBURN, CADWALADER C. 

WASHBURN, ELIHU B. 

WASHBURN, HENRY D. 

WASHBURN, WILLIAM B. 

WELKER, MARTIN, 

WHITTEMORE, B. FRANK, 

WILLIAMS, THOMAS, 

WILLIAMS, WILLIAM, 

WILSON, JAMES F. 

WILSON, JOHN T. 

WILSON, STEPHEN F 

WINDOM, WILLIAM, 

Wood. FERNANDO, 

WOODBRIDGE, FREDERICK E. 

WOODWARD, GEORGE W. 









THE FOKTIETH CONGRESS. 




>^|1|^HE Fortieth Congress ranks among the most remarkable 
legislative bodies of ancient or modern times. The men 
who composed it, the emergencies in which it was placed, 
and the measures which it enacted, all contribute to its distinction. 
It must ever occupy a high historical position by reason of its achieve- 
ments in continuing the work of Beconstruction begun by its prede- 
cessor, and the great struggle which it maintained with the Execu- 
tive branch of the Government. 

The Thirty-ninth Congress closed its labors and its existence at 
noon, on the 4th of March, 1867. At the same hour, in accordance 
with a recently enacted law, the Fortieth Congress convened, and pro- 
ceeded to organize for business. So large a proportion of the members 
I had been re-elected, that the new Congress formed essentially the same 
body as its predecessor. The membership, however, was not com- 
plete, since the States of New Hampshire, Ehode Island, Con- 
necticut, Tennessee, Kentucky, California, and Nebraska, had not 
yet held their elections, and were not represented in the House. 
The States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas were 
unrepresented, by reason of their failure hitherto to comply with the 
terms of reconstruction. 

Before the House entered upon the regular routine of business, the 
Democratic members took occasion to enter their " most solemn pro- 
test against the organization of the House, until the absent States 
should be more fully represented." 

The Senate was called to order by Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, who 
had been elected its President pro tempore before the close of the 



2 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

previous Congress. The House of Representatives was organized by 
the election to the speakership of Hon. Schuyler Colfax, now for the 
third time the recipient of that high honor. 

Congress at once addressed itself to the duty of perfecting the 
work of Reconstruction. The bill which had been passed over the 
President's veto, March 2d, was incomplete in not having all the pro- 
visions necessary for carrying it into effect in accordance with the 
purposes of its framers. 

Supplementary Reconstruction bills were proposed by Mr. Wilson 
in the House, and Mr. Trumbull in the Senate. The best features of 
both having been combined and fully discussed, the perfected bill 
was finally passed over the President's veto on the 23d of March. 
In this supplementary bill, directions were given for the due registra- 
tion of voters, the method of conducting elections, and the mode of 
calling conventions. 

Before the close of the preceding Congress, a conviction had taken 
possession of many minds that the President, in his career of opposi- 
tion to the legislative branch of the Government, had been guilty of 
crimes and misdemeanors which laid him liable to impeachment. 
On the Ttli of January, 1867, Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, offered a resolu- 
tion, which passed by a vote of 108 to 38, instructing the Judiciary 
Committee to "inquire into the official conduct of Andrew John- 
eon," and report whether he had been guilty of " high crimes and 
misdemeanors, requiring the interposition of the Constitutional 
power of the House." The Committee to which this question was 
referred, was unable to complete its investigations before the close of 
the Thirty-ninth Congress, and the undetermined question of im- 
peachment was handed over to the discussion and action of the 
Fortieth ( Jongress. Tn the first session of this Congress its Judiciary 
Committee was charged with the duty of continuing the investiga 
tions, with Instructions to report at the second session. Congress ad 
journed on the 30th of March, making provision for re-assembling 
on the 3d of July, if the exigencies of Reconstruction or the con- 
duct of the President should make a meeting necessary. 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 3 

The President manifested extreme unwillingness to execute the 
Reconstruction laws. He was sustained in his position of hostility 
to Congress by the opinion of his Attorney-General, which jus- 
tified him in disregarding the laws recently enacted for the gov- 
ernment of the Rebel States, Alarmed. by this attitude of the Pres- 
ident and his subordinate, Congress re-assembled in full force on 
the 3d of July, prepared to meet the exigencies of the hour. " The 
peculiar views," said Mr. Howard in the Senate, " taken by the At- 
torney-General of the United States of the reconstruction acts of 
Congress, and the apprehension of the members of this body, at least 
the majority, that the President of the United States, in the execu- 
tion of those acts, may or will be governed by the conclusions to 
which his legal advisers have arrived, have doubtless been the great 
causes for the re-assembling of Congress." 

An additional Reconstruction act was passed over the President's 
veto on the 19th of July. A practical feature of this bill, which 
distinguished it from previous acts, was a provision devolving 
many of the details of the execution of the laws upon the General 
of the Army, in whose abilities and integrity Congress and the 
country placed full reliance. That nothing might be left undone to 
aid in the full restoration of the South, Congress appropriated one 
million six hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars to defray the 
necessary expenses of Reconstruction. 

The President, in a communication relating to the cost of carrying 
out the provisions of the Reconstruction bills, stated that if the Fed- 
eral Government should abolish the existing State governments of the 
ten States, the United States would be justly responsible for the 
debts incurred by those States for other purposes than in aid of the 
rebellion; those debts amounted to at least $100,000,000. He 
thought it worthy the consideration of Congress whether the as- 
sumption of so great an obligation would not seriously impair the 
national credit ; whether, on the other hand, " the refusal of Con- 
gress to guarantee the payment of the debts of those States, after 
having displaced or abolished their State governments, would not be 



4 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

viewed as a violation of good faith, and a repudiation by the Na- 
tional Legislature of liabilities which those States had jointly and le- 
gally incurred. The House, by a vote of 100 to 18, resolved that this 
intimation of the liability of the United States for those debts, " is 
at war with the principles of international law, a deliberate stab 
at the national credit, abhorrent to every sentiment of loyalty, 
and well-pleasing only to the traitors by whose agency alone the 
Governments of said States were overthrown." 

AVI lcn the Fortieth Congress convened for its second session on the 
21st of November, 18G7, its first important business was to hear a 
report from the Committee charged with the work of investigating 
the conduct of the President, with a view to his impeachment. On 
the 25th of November, Mr. Boutwell presented to the House the re- 
port of that Committee, recommending that Andrew Johnson be 
impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. On the same day, a 
minority of the Committee presented a dissenting report recommend- 
ing that the whole subject be laid on the table, and that the Com- 
mittee be discharged. Both reports were ordered to be printed, and 
the subject was made the special order for "Wednesday, the 4th of 
December. On that day the subject was resumed, and after a dis- 
<u--ion of three days, was determined against impeachment, lit'ty- 
i noting in the affirmative, and one hundred and eight in the 
negative. Of those voting in the negative, thirty-nine were Demo- 
crat-, and sixty-nine were Republicans. The "overt act" was yet 
to be committed which would consolidate the Bepublicans to form the 
Constitutional two-thirds required for the impeachment of the Presi- 
dent. 

The character of Mr. Johnson's message, delivered to Congress on 
the 3d of December, was Buch as to indicate his unmitigated hostility 
to Congress, and was calculated to fan the unhappy strife between 
the co-ordinate branches of the G-orernment. There had been some 
hope that Mr. Johnson, tan-lit by observation and experience that 
the Congressional plan of reconstruction was that upon which the 
country had determined, would relax his opposition, and apply him- 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 5 

self to the duty of executing the laws. His December message dis- 
pelled this hope. From the moment this paper was made public, 
it was evident that a fiercer conflict was impending between the Leg- 
islative and Executive branches of the Government. 

On the 12th of December, President Johnson transmitted to the 
Senate a communication setting forth his reasons for suspending Mr. 
Stanton from the exercise of the functions of Secretary of War. 
The general ground upon which Mr. Johnson justified his suspension 
of Mr. Stanton, was, that upon, grave and important questions the 
views of the Secretary of War differed from those of the President. 
Mr. Johnson, in the case of the Secretary of War, did not admit that 
he was bound by the Tenure of Office Act, since before he had 
vetoed it, every member of his Cabinet, including Mr. Stanton, had 
agreed that it was unconstitutional. So soon as it had been discov- 
ered that the differences of policy could not be reconciled, those 
members of the Cabinet who did not coincide with the President, 
save Mr. Stanton, had resigned. By Mr. Stanton's continuance in 
office, " that unity of opinion which, upon great questions of public 
policy or administration, is so essential to the Executive, was gone." 
Since Mr. Stanton would not resign to produce this desired unity, 
Mr. Johnson had been induced to resort to his suspension. 

This message was referred to the Military Committee of the Senate, 
a majority of whom, on the 8th of January, presented an elaborate re- 
port controverting the statements and assumptions of the President. 
The design of the Tenure of Office Act was to prevent the President 
from making any removals except for mental or moral incapacity, or 
for some legal disqualification ; and then, facts must be proved prior 
to removals. The constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Bill was 
maintained. The President had himself recognized it by his action 
in every case. The Report declared that if the purposes of Mr. 
Johnson, for which he required the unanimous support of his Cabinet, 
had been carried out, " the plain intention of Congress in regard to 
reconstruction in rebel States would have been defeated." The 
Military Committee said of Mr. Johnson, that " his whole course of 



6 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

conduct was notoriously in open and violent antagonism to the will 
of the nation as expressed by the two Houses of Congress. Mr. 
Stanton, on the other hand, had favored the execution of these laws. 
He had good reason to believe, and did believe, that if he resigned his 
post, Mr. Johnson would till the vacancy by the appointment of some 
person in accord with himself in his plans of obstruction and resist- 
ance to the will of Congress." "With reference to the statement by 
the President that Mr. Stanton had considered the Tenure of Office 
Bill unconstitutional, and was opposed to its becoming a law, it was 
said in the report, " It does not follow because a public officer has 
entertained such an opinion of a proposed measure, he is to carry his 
notions so far as to treat it as void when formally enacted into a law 
by a two-thirds vote of each House of Congress." The Committee 
eulogized Mr. Stanton's conduct in refusing to resign, declaring 
that "in so doing he consulted both his own duty and the best inter- 
ests of the country." They recommended the passage of a Kesolu- 
tion by the Senate non-concurring in the suspension of Mr. Stanton. 
The resolution was adopted by a majority of thirty-five to six. In 
consequence of this action of the Senate, General Grant ceased to 
exercise the functions of Secretary of War ad interim, and Mr. Stan- 
ton resumed the duties of his office. 

General Grant incurred the displeasure of the President because he 
did not resign the Secretaryship into his hands, that he might ap- 
point another, who would prevent Mr. Stanton from resuming the 
office. The voluminous correspondence which followed, .attracted 
much attention, and revealed in a clear light the characters of the 
two distinguished disputants. The letters of the President showed 
that it was his determination to control the Department of War, 
despite the Tenure of Office Act and the will of the Senate. 

In view of the state of things brought to light in this correspond- 
ence, Mr. Stevens, on the 13th of February, proposed t<> the House 
Committee on Reconstruction, a resolution to impeach the President 
for high crimes and misdemeanors. The resolution was laid on the 
table, Messrs. Bingham, Paine, Beaman, Brooks, and Beck, voting in 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 7 

the affirmative, and Stevens, Boutwell, and Farnsworth, in the neg- 
ative. 

On the twenty-first of February, the President issued an order to 
Mr. Stanton, removing him from the office of Secretary of War, di- 
recting him to surrender all books, papers, and public property of 
the Department to General Lorenzo Thomas, whom he had appointed 
Secretary of War ad interim. General Thomas immediately pre- 
sented himself at the War Department and demanded possession. 
Mr. Stanton refused to surrender the office, and ordered General 
Thomas to proceed to the apartment which belonged to him as Ad- 
jutant-General. This order was not obeyed. Mr. Stanton re- 
mained in possession of the War Department, and continued to dis- 
charge the functions of the office. At the same time General 
Thomas was recognized as Secretary by the President, and in that 
capacity attended the meetings of the Cabinet. 

On the 22d of February, Mr. Stevens, as Chairman of the House 
Committee on Eeconstruction, presented a brief report, presenting 
the fact of the attempted removal of Mr. Stanton by the President 
and recommending the passage of a resolution that Andrew Johnson 
be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. An earnest de- 
bate ensued, which was closed with a speech written by Mr. Stevens 
but read by the Clerk of the House. The veteran Chairman of the 
Committee and former leader of the House, with a mind still vio-or- 
ous, found his physical strength insufficient for personal participation 
in debate. After two days' discussion, on the 24th of February, the 
Resolution to impeach the President passed the House bv a vote of 
one hundred and twenty-six to forty-seven. 

The House also appointed a committee to prepare Articles of Im- 
peachment, consisting of seven members: Messrs. Boutwell, Stevens, 
Bingham, Wilson, Logan, Julian, and Ward. A committee of two 
members, Messrs. Stevens and Boutwell, was appointed to notify the 
Senate of the action of the House — a duty which was performed on 
the following , day. Thereupon the Senate, by a unanimous vote, 
resolved that the message from the House should be referred to a com- 



g THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

mittee of seven, to be appointed by the chair. This committee sub- 
sequently made a report, laying down the rules of procedure to be 
observed in the trial. 

On the 29th of February, Articles of Impeachment were presented 
to the House by the Committee which had been charged with that 
duty. After slight modification, these, with two additional articles, 
were adopted, on the 4th of March. The votes on the different 
articles slightly varied, the average being 125 yeas to 40 nays. The 
House then elected the following members to be Managers to conduct 
the Impeachment before the Senate: Messrs. Bingham, Boutwell, 
Wilson, Butler, Williams, Logan, and Stevens. 

The Democratic members abstained from voting in the election of 
Managers. They entered a formal protest against the whole course 
of proceedings involved in the impeachment of the President. 
While taking this step, they claimed to represent, " directly or in prin- 
ciples, more than one-half of the people of the United States." On 
the fifth of March the Articles of Impeachment were presented to the 
Senate by the Managers, who were accompanied by the House ot 
Representatives, the grand inquest of the nation. Mr. Bingham, the 
( Jhairman of the Managers, read the Articles of Impeachment. 

The Court, consisting of fifty-four Senators, presided over by the 
Chief-J ustice, was organized on Thursday, the 5th of March. The oath 
was administered to Chief-Justice Chase by Associate-Justice Nel- 
son. The Chief- Justice then administered the oath to the Senators 
present, excepl Mr. Wade, whose eligibility as a member of the court 
was challenged on the ground that he was a party interested, since 
in the event of the impeachment being sustained, he. as President 
of the Senate, would succeed to the Presidency of the United States. 
After a discussion of several hours, the objection was withdrawn, and 
Mr. Wade was sworn as a member of the Court, On the 7th. Mr. 
Brown, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, served upon the 
President the summons to appear before the bar of the High Court 
of Impeachment, and answer to the Articles of [mpeachment. 

The trial commenced on Friday, the 13th of March, the President 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 9 

appearing by his counsel, Henry Stanberry, Benjamin E. Curtis, 
William M. Evarts, Thomas A. E. Nelson, and William S. Groes- 
beck. Application was made by the President, through his counsel, 
for forty days in which to prepare his answer to the indictment. 
The Senate refused so much time, and granted ten days, ordering that 
the trial should be resumed on the 23d. Upon that day the Presi- 
dent appeared by his counsel, and presented his answer to the Ar- 
ticles of Impeachment. His answer was a general denial of each 
and every criminal act charged in the Articles of Impeachment. The 
counsel for the President then asked for a further delay of the trial 
for thirty days after the replication of the Managers of the Impeach- 
ment should be rendered. This was refused, and the Managers, indi- 
cating their purpose to present their replication on the following day, 
it was ordered that the trial should be suspended only until Monday, 
the 30th of March, and then proceed " with all dispatch." The re- 
plication presented by the Managers was a simple denial of each and 
every averment in the answer of the President. 

On the 30th of March, the opening speech on the part of the 
House of Eepresentatives was made by Mr. Butler. The remainder 
of the week was occupied by the presentation of documentary and 
oral testimony on the part of the prosecution. On Saturday, 
April 4th, the Managers announced that the case on their part was 
substantially closed. The counsel for the President then asked for 
three working days in which to prepare for the defense. The Senate 
granted their request, and adjourned to meet as a Court of Impeach- 
ment on Thursday, April 9th. The trial being resumed on the day 
appointed, Mr. Curtis delivered the opening speech for the defense. 
At the conclusion of this address, the testimony for the President, 
both oral and documentary, was presented. 

The testimony in the case having closed on Monday, April 20, the 
Court adjourned until the following Wednesday, when the final ar- 
guments were commenced. Oral arguments were presented by each 
of the President's counsel, and all of the Managers for the prosecu- 
tion except Mr. Logan, who filed his in writing. The argument waa- 

2 



10 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

closed for the defense by Mr. Evarts, and for the prosecution by Mr. 
Bingham, each of whom occupied three days in his address. The 
delivery of the arguments occupied a fortnight, ending on the 6th of 
May. On the following day, the mode of procedure having been 
determined, the Court adjourned until the 11th, when it re-assem- 
bled with closed doors for deliberation. Two days were occupied 
with these deliberations, during the course of which several Senators 
delivered elaborate opinions upon the case. 

•Saturday, May 6th, was fixed upon as the day when the vote 
should be taken. It was ordered by the Senate that the vote should 
be taken on the eleventh article first. The name of each Senator 
being called in alphabetical order, thirty-five voted "guilty," and 
nineteen " not guilty." The former were Messrs. Anthony, Cameron, 
■Cattell, Chandler, Cole, Conkling, Conness, Corbett, Cragin, Drake, 
Edmunds, Ferry, Frelinghuysen, Harlan, Howard, Howe, Morgan, 
Morrill (of Maine), Morrill (of Yermont), Morton, Nye, Patterson 
(of New Hampshire), Pomeroy, Ramsey, Sherman, Sprague, Stewart, 
Sumner, Thayer, Tipton, Wade, Willey, Williams, Wilson, Yates. 

Those voting " not guilty" were Messrs. Bayard, Buckalew, Davis, 
Dixon, Doolittle, Fessenden, Fowler, Grimes, Henderson, Hendricks, 
Johnson, M'Creery, Norton, Patterson (of Tennessee), Ross, Sauls- 
burv, Trumbull, Yan Winkle, Yickers. 

Two-thirds of the Senate having failed to vote in lavor of convic- 
tion, the Chief-Justice formally announced that the President was 
acquitted on the eleventh article. The Court was then adjourned 
until Tuesday, the 26th of May. On that day votes were taken on 
the second and third articles, on which the Eresi^ent was acquitted 
by tin- same vote winch had been given on the eleventh article. The 
Senate sitting as a High Court of Impeachment then adjourned sine die. 

During the trial of the Impeachment, but little was done in 
the way of general legislation. The House was officially present 
in the Chamber of the Senate while that body was sitting as a 
Court of [mpeachment. Although it usually convened after the 
adjournment of the Court, it was understood to be for the pur- 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. . 11 

pose of debate rather than of action. During the days when 
the court was adjourned or in private session, some important 
measures were acted upon in the House. Among them were 
bills relating to certain of the late rebel States. Alabama, Ar- 
kansas, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Florida, had formed Constitutions in accordance with the Act for 
the more efficient government of the rebel States, passed March 2, 
1867. Bills passed the House in May, and the Senate in June, ad- 
mitting these States to representation, so soon as they should respec- 
tively have ratified the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitu- 
tion, upon the fundamental condition that these States should never 
discriminate in favor of, or against, any class of citizens now entitled 
to vote, except as punishment for such crimes as are now felonies at 
common law ; and no person shall be held to service or labor as punish- 
ment for crime, except by public officers charged with the custody 
of convicts. The bills admitting these States on such conditions to 
representation were returned by the President without his signature, 
and were promptly passed over the veto by more than the required 
two-thirds. 

On the 22d of June, Messrs. McDonald and Rice, Senators elect 
from Arkansas, appeared at the bar of the Senate and were sworn in. 
On the day following, Messrs. Boles, Hinds, and Roots were admitted 
to the House as representatives from Arkansas. Senators and Rep- 
resentatives from the other reconstructed States were sworn in at later 
dates. 

All the Democratic members of the House, forty-five in number, 
entered a solemn protest against " the recognized presence of these 
persons on the floor of the House from the State of Arkansas, sent 
here by military force acting under a brigadier-general of the army, 
but nevertheless claiming to be members of this Congress, and to 
share with us, the representatives of free States, in the imposition of 
taxes, and customs, and other laws upon our people. We protest 
igainst the now proposed co-partnership of military dictators and 
negroes in the administration of this Government." 

A concurrent resolution was adopted by both Houses on the 21st 



12 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

of July, stating that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, 
which had been proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, had been 
adopted by more than three-fourths of the States, and had thus be- 
come a part of the Constitution. On the 28th of July the Secretary 
of State issued his official declaration that the said Amendment had 
become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

That the political status of the colored man might be for ever 
settled, another Amendment to the Constitution was proposed by the 
Fortieth Congress providing that " The right of the citizens of the 
United States to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United 
States or any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of 
servitude." This crowning act of the Fortieth Congress was passed 
in the House, February 25, 1869, by one hundred and forty-three to 
forty-three, and in the Senate on the following day by thirty-nine to 
twelve. 

The labors of the Fortieth Congress were not only devoted to the 
restoration of the original States, but to extending the Government 
over new regions. A bill was passed organizing the Territory of 
Wyoming. Another act appropriated $7,200,000 to pay for Alaska, 
and extended the laws of the United States over that country. 

Circumstances seeming to demand legislation for the protection of 
American citizens abroad, the House of Representatives instructed 
its Committee on Foreign Affairs to inquire and report whether any 
American citizens had been arrested, tried, and convicted in Great 
Britain or Ireland, for words spoken or acts done in the United States. 
Mr. Banks, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, presented 
a report upon the general question of the rights of naturalized Ameri- 
can citizens, and proposed a bill, which after amendment by the 
Senate became a law. It provides that all naturalized citizens of the 
United States, while in foreign states, shall be entitled to, and shall 
receive from this Government, the same protection of persons and prop- 
erty that is accorded to native-born citizens in like situation and cir- 
cnmstances. That whenever it shall be made known to the President 
that any citizen of the United States has been unjustly deprived of 



THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 13 

his liberty by or under the authority of any foreign Government, It 
shall be the duty of the President forthwith to demand of that Gov- 
ernment the reasons for such imprisonment ; and if it appears to be 
wrongful and in violation of the rights of American citizenship, the 
President shall forthwith demand the release of such citizen ; and 
if the release so demanded is unreasonably delayed or refused, it shall 
be the duty of the President to use such means, not amounting to acts 
of war, as he may think necessary and proper to obtain or effectuate 
such release, and all the facts aud proceedings relative thereto shall 
as soon as practicable be communicated by the President to Congress. 

In the attempt to better the condition of citizens at home, Congress 
passed a bill providing that " Eight hours shall constitute a day's 
work for all laborers, mechanics, and workmen now employed, or who 
may hereafter be employed by, or in behalf of the Government of the 
United States." 

The Fortieth Congress was not deficient in the performance of its 
duty to legislate in behalf of races long deprived of civil and politi- 
cal rights. Early in the existence of the Fortieth Congress, a law 
was enacted providing that in the District of Columbia no person 
should be disqualified from holding office on account of race or 
color. 

Congress ordered that theFreedman's Bureau be continued until July 
16, 1869, and ordered the Secretary of War to re-establish the Bureau 
where it had been discontinued, if the personal safety of the freed men 
required it, and to discontinue it where its necessity no longer existed, 
and providing that the educational division should not be interfered 
with until a State made suitable provision for the education of the 
children of the freedmen within the State. 

A bill was passed to establish peace with Indian tribes, providing 
that commissioners should be appointed to select a district sufficient 
to receive all the tribes east of the Pocky Mountains, not living 
peacefully on reservations; that the district should contain sufficient 
arable and grazing land to enable them to support themselves by ag 
ricultural and pastoral pursuits ; the district to remain a permanent 
home for the tribes exclusively, and to be so located as not to inter- 



14 THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 

fere with the travel on highways located by authority of the United 
Stares, nor with the routes of the Pacific Railroads. 

The Fortieth Congress exempted all cotton grow: in the United 
States after 1867 from Internal Revenue tax, and reduced the tax on 
manufactures to such an extent as to diminish the Revenue $60,000,- 
000. The tax on whiskey was reduced to fifty cents per gallon. Il- 
licit distilleries were made liable to forfeit, their owners being sub' 
ject to line and imprisonment. 

Inharmonious relations continued to exist between President John- 
son and Congress to the last. The President sent in numerous nom- 
inations to the Senate that were immediately rejected. The most 
remarkable instance was that of the mission to Austria, which had 
been resigned by Mr. Motley. The President successively nomin- 
ated ex-Senator Cowan of Pennsylvania, General Frank P. Blair, 
ex-Senator Nesmith of Oregon, and Henry J. Raymond, who were 
all rejected by the Senate. Reverdy Johnson, Senator from Mary- 
land, was confirmed by a unanimous vote as Minister to Eng- 
land. Mr. Stanberry, who had resigned the position of Attorney- 
General for the purpose of defending the President in the Impeach- 
ment Trial, was renominated and was rejected. Mr. Evarts of the 
President's counsel was subsequently nominated for the same office, 
and was confirmed. ISear the close of the Fortieth Congress the 
Senate informally resolved that, except in cases of urgent necessity, no 
nomination to officemade by President Johnson would be acted upon. 

The President's message, transmitted at the beginning of the last 
'li <>t' the Fortieth Congress, was more hostile in its tone than 
any that had preceded it. He made severe charges against Congress 
and its legislation. " The various laws." said he, " which have been 
passed upon the subject of reconstruction, after a fair trial, have sub- 
stantially failed, and proved pernicious in their results." lie charg- 
ed that, "one hundred million dollars were annually expended for 
the military force, a large portion of which is employed in the exe- 
cution oflawsboth unnecessary and unconstitutional." He proposed 
a plan for paying the public debt by repudiating the principal. 1 1 is 
message was denounced in both Mouses as a disrespectful and offeu- 






THE FORTIETH CONGRESS. 15 

sive document. In the Senate its reading was interrupted by ad- 
journment, but was resumed the following day. That portion relat- 
ing to the National Debt was made the subject of special animadver- 
sion, and resolutions disapproving and condemning it were passed in 
both branches. 

Many propositions were brought before the Fortieth Congress, 
from first to last, relating to the National Finances. At the very 
outset Mr. Edmunds proposed in the Senate a joint resolution, to the 
effect that, except in the cases when other provision was expressly 
made, the public debt is owing in coin or its equivalent. 

Another prominent financial scheme was presented by Senator 
Morrill, providing that, after the 4th of July, 1869, the Secretary of the 
Treasury should pay in coin all United States legal tender notes not 
bearing interest, and that after the same date all National Banks 
should be required to pay in coin all their circulating notes of $5, 
and under, and all of a higher denomination in coin or legal tender 
notes. In July, 1868, a bill was proposed for funding the National 
Securities, providing that the holders of bonds paying 7.30 may ex 
change them for new bonds at 3.65 running forty years, principal 
and interest payable in gold, the bonds and interest to be free from 
all taxation. This bill passed both Houses, but at so late a day 
that it was held by the President until after the adjournment 
and thus failed to become a law. A bill was proposed by Mr. 
Sumner, providing for a return to specie payments July 4, 1S69, 
and for funding the National Debt at a lower rate of interest. 
A bill was proposed by Mr. Morton, designed to render at as early 
a date as possible the currency convertible into, and therefore of 
equal value with, gold. A directly opposite plan was proposed by 
General Butler in the House, looking to the indefinite prolongation 
of paper currency. No definite and final action was reached upon 
any of the financial plans proposed. It was thought proper to defer 
action upon these important questions until such time as the Legislative 
and Executive Departments of the Government should be in har- 
mony. 



JOSEPH O. ABBOTT. 




*OSEPH CARTER ABBOTT, a son of Aaron Abbott, an in- 
telligent fanner of Concord, New Hampshire, was born July 
15, 1S25. He early evinced a decided taste for literary pur- 
suits, rather than the labors of the home farm. Obtaining a good 
academical education, and subsequently a suitable training for the 
bar, he was admitted to the practice of law in 1852. While pursu- 
ing his professional studies — his tastes leading him into the field of 
politics as well as of general literature — he was employed for several 
months as editor of the " Manchester American," and, during the 
last six months of his legal course, as editor of the " New Hampshire 
Statesman," at Concord. In May, 1852, soon after his admission to 
the bar, he returned to Manchester and became permanent proprie- 
tor of the " American " and was its editor until disposing of the 
.lishment in 1857. The practice of law having but few attrac- 
tions for him, Mr. Abbott, in May, 1859, became editor and proprie- 
tor of the " Boston Atlas," which he conducted for two years, still 
continuing his family residence at Manchester. In politics a decided 
Whig, he was early a member of the New Hampshire State Central 
Committee, and for a time its chairman ; and also chairman of the 
committee that reported the resolutions in the Whig Presidential 
Convention of New Hampshire, in 1852. 

In July, 1855, Gen. Abbott received the appointment of adjutant- 
general of the State of New Hampshire, which he resigned in 1861. 
While in this office he was instrumental in effecting a more thorough 
organization of the State militia — feeling that in time of peace we 
should prepare for war — and for this purpose he drafted and secured 
the enactment of an elaborate bill, which is, in its main features, the 
present Militia Law of New Hampshire. 





lwS\ 



JOSEPH C. ABBOTT. 2 

Although the State authorities were, at the time, making a heavy 
draft on its available men, in organizing, for purposes of the existing 
war, four regiments of infantry, a battery, a company of sharp 
shooters, and a battalion of cavalry, still, in September, 1861, Gen. 
Abbott obtained authority from the "War Department to raise a regi- 
ment of infantry in New Hampshire. This he early determined 
should be under thorough military command, and prove a model 
regiment. By persevering effort he was successful in raising the req- 
uisite number of men, and fixed the headquarters of his regiment — ■ 
well known as the 7th New Hampshire — at Manchester. He did 
not seek for himself the chief command, but accepted the lieutenant- 
colonelcy — suggesting and urging for appointment as colonel, Lieu- 
tenant H. S. Putnam, who had received a military education at 
"West Point, and had already seen some service in the field. These 
commissions were accordingly issued by the governor. 

In the early part of 1863, Col. Putnam was assigned to the com- 
mand of a brigade, and Lieut.-Col. Abbott succeeded to the command 
of the 7th Kegiment. Under his command, at the assault on Fort 
"Wagner, July 18, 1863, where Col. Putnam was killed, the Yth 
Kegiment suffered a loss of 212 officers and men, killed and wounded. 
Almost immediately upon this, Lieut.-Col. Abbott was promoted to 
be colonel of the regiment, and continued in command, through 
several severe battles and marches, until the engagement at Drury's 
Bluff, in May, 1864, when, by reason of the sickness of the brigade 
commander, Col. Abbott succeeded to his place ; and, after this, for 
nearly all the time until the close of the war, he remained in the 
command of a brigade. At the capture of Fort Fisher, in North 
Carolina, he distinguished himself in such command ; and in Jan- 
uary, 1865, was "appointed Brigadier-General of IT. S. Volunteers, 
by brevet, for gallant services " on that occasion. Gen. Abbott was 
mustered out of the United States service with his regiment, returned 
with it to New Hampshire, and was honorably discharged in August, 
1865. 

Soon after leaving the service, Mr. Abbott purchased valuable 



I? 



3 JOSEPH C. ABBOTT. 

timber lands in North Carolina, and removed to Wilmington, near 
the scene of his last gallant exploits, where he engaged actively in 
land and lumber business, although still retaining his connection with 
a partner in the law. He was an influential member of the North 
Carolina. Constitutional Convention, which met at Raleigh in Novem- 
ber, 18G7, taking an active part in its deliberations, and making sev- 
eral able speeches ; showing throughout an intimate knowledge of 
political affairs, and a deep interest in the concerns of his adopted 
State. In April, 1868, he was chosen as a Republican Represen- 
tative in the State Legislature, and in July following was elected 
by that body United States Senator from North Carolina. 

Of strong native sense, and of sound judgment in political matters, 
Mr. Abbott was well fitted for his editorial duties, and discharged 
them with good taste, tact, and ability. Kind and courteous in dis- 
position, he would not needlessly offend a political opponent, while at 
the same time he would not sacrifice principle to expediency in con- 
ciliating opposition. Writing with clearness of thought, without any 
inflation of style, his editorial services were well appreciated as a 
literary and miscellaneous as well as political writer. In the mili- 
tary service, whether as a regimental or brigade commander, he was 
distinguished for prudent care of the troops under his command, not 
rashly urging them forward where he was not willing, fearless of 
consequences, to go himself. Cool and deliberate in judgment, he 
was brave and earnest in action, and proved himself scrupulously 
faithful in the discharge of every duty. 

Mr. Abbott is about six feet in height, of a compact and solid 
frame. With dark eyes and complexion, regular rather than prom 
inent features, and a handsomely rounded contour of visage, his face 
has none of the wrinkles of age, nor his hair much of the touch of 
gray. His expression of countenance, when in repose, indicates great 
kindness and benevolence of character; but his eye gives token that, 
when roused by proper excitement to action, the will " to do and to 
dare'" will never be wanting. 






JAMES A. BAYAKD. 




AMES A. BAYARD is a native of Delaware, and son of a 
statesman of the same name who was a United States Sen- 
ator in 1804, a minister to France, and one of the commis- 
sioners who negotiated the treaty of Ghent. An elder brother, 
Richard II. Bayard, was a Senator in Congress from 1836 to 1839, 
and again from 1S41 to 1845. The subject of this sketch took a seat 
in the Senate from Delaware in 1851 ; was re-elected in 1857, and 
was again re-elected in 1S63, but resigned January 29, 1864. Upon 
the death of George Read Riddle, he was appointed to fill the 
vacancy in the Senate, and took his seat April 1, 1867. His service 
closed at the end of the Fortieth Congress, when he gave place to 
his son, seeking in the shades of private life the quiet scenes better 
befitting his advanced years than the tumultuous arena of politics. 

During the Fortieth Congress Mr. Bayard served on the Committees 
on Foreign Relations, Private Land Claims, and Revision of the 
United States Laws. Among his remarks at different times in the 
Senate was a speech on the organization of that body as Court of 
Impeachment, wherein he took strong ground against the presiding 
officer. Mr. Wade, acting as a member of the Court. He spoke 
against the bill for the read mission of North Carolina, and steadily 
opposed the reconstruction measures, and the general policy of Con- 
- I'm' tin- re-establishment of the government over the rebellious 
By birth, by education and association, he was led to sym- 
pathize with the South, and to act with the opposers of the govern- 
ment, although his impaired faculties prevented liL? opposition from 
being rigorous or effectual. 








<^^^^2U^^ 






CHARLES R. BUCKALEW. 




IHAELES R. BUCKALEW was born in Columbia County, 
Pennsylvania, December 28, 1821. He is of Frencb descent, 
his ancestors having emigrated to this country on occasion 
of theRevocation of the Edict of Nantes. His father and grand- 
father were private citizens, undistinguished by wealth or position. 

We have but scanty information concerning Mr. Buckalew 
in his boyhood, whether in respect to his youthful occupations, the 
extent of his educational advantages, or other circumstances of inter- 
est. He once narrowly escaped drowning, when he was the sub- 
ject of those peculiar mental experiences which are thought to indi- 
cate for the soul a future existence independent of the body. 

Mr. Buckalew adopted the profession of law, and was admitted to 
practice in 1843. From 1845 to 1847, he was Prosecuting Attorney for 
his native County, and from 1850 to 1856 was a Senator in the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature. Meanwhile, he served also as a Commissioner 
to exchange the ratification of a treaty with the Government of Para- 
guay ; and was, in 1856, a Senatorial Presidential Elector. In 1857, 
he was Chairman of the State Democratic Committee, was re-elected 
to the State Senate, and was appointed a Commissioner to revise the 
Penal Code of Pennsylvania. In 1858, he resigned the two latter 
positions, and was appointed by President Buchanan Resident Min- 
ister to Ecuador, whence he returned in 1861. In 1863 he was 
elected a Senator in Congress from Pennsylvania, by a majority of 
one vote, for the term ending in 1869. 

Mr. Buckalew is not so frequent a speaker as many in the Senate, 
and yet he is not silent in that great national council. In the corn- 



el/ 



2 CHARLES R. BUCKALEW. 

mencement of his speech on the " Basis of Representation," Febru 
ary 21, 18G5, he remarked that he had previously refrained from 
speech-making, supposing that " while the passions of the country 
were influenced by the war, reason could not be heard." And he took 
occasion to express regret that " questions pertaining to the war still 
occupied the attention of Congress to the exclusion of those connect- 
ed with economy, revenue, finance, ordinary legislation, and the ad- 
ministration of justice — questions which require intelligence, investi- 
gation, labor, and the habits of the student." 

As an argument for changing the basis of representation as it 
existed, Mr. Buckalew gave statistical details showing the various ra- 
tios of representation in the Senate, as possessed respectively by the 
East, West, and South. He maintained that New England had too 
great a preponderance of power in the Senate, both as to membership 
and the chairmanship of committees. " AVhile," said he, "the popu- 
lation of the East is less than one-seventh of the population of the 
States represented in the Senate, she has the chairmanship of one- 
third of the committees. The chairmanship of a committee is a posi- 
tion of much influence and power. The several distinguished gentle- 
men holding that position have virtual control over the transaction 
of business, both in Committee and in the S mate." 

Mr. Buckalew thus presented the effect of restoration of represen 
tation to the Southern States upon the relative position of New Eng 
land : " Twenty-two Senators from the Southern States, and two 
from Colorado — being double the number of those from the East- 
would reduce the importance of the latter in the Senate, and remit 
her hack to the condition in which she stood in her relations to the 
Onion before the war. True, she would even then possess much 
more than her proportion of weight in the Senate, regard being had 
to her population; but she Mould no longer dominate or control the 
Government of the United States." 



2^ 



% 



rs, 




^^^t^^^>?^7 <L^ 






SIMON CAMEKCXN". 



k^BjflMON CAMERON was bora in Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
Jj) vania, March 8th, 1T99, and was left an orphan at nine 
Wf years of age. He educated himself while pursuing his em- 
ployment as a printer in Harrisburg and in Washington City. He 
edited and published a paper, called the " Pennsylvania Intelligencer," 
at Doylestown, and subsequently, before he reached the age of twenty- 
two, he was editor of a newspaper published at Harrisburg. In 1832 
he established the Middletown Bank. He devoted much attention 
to the railroad interests of Pennsylvania, and became president of 
two railroad companies. 

Before reaching the age of thirty he was appointed by Governor 
Shultze, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. In 1845 he was elect- 
ed United States Senator for four years. 

Retiring from office in 1849, he resumed active business, and de- 
voted himself to internal improvements and financial affairs. In 
1857 he was again elected to the United States Senate for six years, 
but resigned in 1861 to become Secretary of War under President 
Lincoln. In this position he favored the most vigorous measures for 
prosecuting the war, and insisted on arming the negroes. These 
views being at variance with those of the Administration, he retired 
from the Cabinet, and accepted the appointment of Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Russia. On his arrival at St. Petersburg, he found the 
Czar engaged in the noble work of emancipating the serfs, and his 
first act was to congratulate him for doing that justice which our 
country could not then be induced to do, predicting at the same time 
that events would force this nation to follow his great example. Du- 
ring his stay at St. Petersburg, the unbroken and continuous news 
of Federal disasters strengthened his fear that the policy of the Gov- 



23 



2 SIMON CAMERON. 

ernment foreboded ruin, and deeming it yet possible to impress his 
views on the Administration, and believing that the salvation of the 
country depended on a change of policy, he resigned his office and 
hastened home to take an active part in the mighty struggle. The 
Government would nut yet yield to the growing pressure for vigorous 
measures, and he threw himself into the work of recruiting the Fede- 
ral army, and supporting the Union cause in Pennsylvania and the 
loyal States. At last, the negroes were accepted for soldiers, and, 
finding that the work of their enlistment was unpopular, he offered 
his services to Mr. Lincoln to recruit a brigade of negro soldiers for 
the war, and lead them. His offer being declined, he continued to 
devote himself to the Union cause, to the utmost of his ability, until 
the end of the war. In 18G7 he was elected for the third time to the 
Senate of the United States, for the term ending in 1S73, and taking 
his seat in that body he was placed on the Committees on Foreign 
Relations, Military Affairs, and Ordnance, and was made Chairman 
of the Committee on Agriculture. He was steadfast in his opposi- 
tion to the policy of the late Executive, and voted for conviction in 
the great Impeachment Trial. 

He was one of the founders of the Republican party, and, in 1860, 
was prominent as a candidate for nomination to the Presidency. 
Whether in the cabinet, on diplomatic duty, or in senatorial service, 
he has been unswerving in his adherence to Republican principles. 
If not unanimously allowed the highest rank in statesmanship, he is 
acknowledged to be unsurpassed in shrewdness as a politician. 
Eminently successful as a financier, he uses his wealth with great 
public spirit and liberality in promoting worthy ends. 



m 





/^tt^^^ 






ALEXA^"DEK G. OATTELL. 



N X£]?? O^ tnat S reat fi nanc i al problems, which concern the honor 
and even life of the nation, are to be solved, it is fortunate 

ip^ that there are men in the halls of National Legislation 
■whose ability to grapple with such questions has been proven by their 
success in private business. 

Such a man is Alexander G. Cattell, Senator from New Jersey. He 
was born at Salem, New Jersey, February 12, 1816. The town of 
Salem was the residence of his ancestors for more than a century. 
There lived his patriotic grandfather, who in the war of the Kevolu- 
tion was singled out as a special object of British vengeance on ac- 
count of his conspicuous devotion to the American cause. One day 
as he was plowing in the field, the breeze of the morning wafted 
across the Delaware the thunder of the cannon of the battle of the 
Brandywine. Turning his horses loose, he went quickly to his house, 
took down his fowling piece, rowed across the river, and, like John 
Brown at Gettysburg, took post in the ranks and poured his fire into 
the enemy. His son, the father of Alexander G. Cattell, inherited 
the spirit and principles of his Kevolutionary sire. He was for half 
a century a successful merchant, and recently died, greatly respected, 
at the age of nearly fourscore years. 

Mr. Cattell being designed for mercantile business, received such an 
education as was deemed necessary for that pursuit forty years ago. 
At the age of thirteen he was placed behind the counter of his father's 
store, where he advanced, before he had attained his majority, to the 
head of a large and flourishing business of his own. 

At the age of twenty-four, Mr. Cattell was elected to the Legisla- 



1S~ 



2 ALEXANDER G. CATTELL. 

tureofNew Jersey, and in 184-i was a member of the Convention 
called to revise the State Constitution. Although the youngest mem- 
ber of that body, which embraced the leading men of the State, he 
was second to none in ability and influence. Distinguished for 
sound common sense, a choice command of language, and a graceful 
and forcible delivery, he never rose to speak without commanding 
the respectful attention, and generally securing the conviction of his 
auditors. 

While success crowned his commercial operations in his native town, 
be possessed capabilities for a career of enterprise and competition 
in a more extensive field. Accordingly, in 1846, he removed to Phil- 
adelphia, where he entered into mercantile business, first with Mr. E. 
G. James, and afterwards with his brother, Mr. Elijah G. Cattell. He 
soon became extensively engaged in the shipment of grain and other 
produce to foreign markets. He soon became a prominent member, 
and afterwards President, of the Corn Exchange Association of Phil- 
adelphia, which won honorable eminence among the business boards 
of that city for its public spirit and patriotic devotion to the interests 
of the country. The Association is composed of many of the most 
liberal and wealthy merchants of Philadelphia. Through their enter- 
prise, energy, and sagacious management, the grain trade of that 
city was developed, until it has become a commercial interest of the 
greatest magnitude. 

The Corn Exchange became conspicuous, at the outbreak of the 
civil war, as a pre-eminently loyal body of citizens. When the news 
reached Philadelphia that the rebellion of the South had culminated 
:n the attack on Fort Sumter, the Association then assembled for 
their daily business laid aside their "samples," and raising the flag 
of the country in front of their hall, pledged themselves to keep it 
floating till the rebellion should be subdued, and the honor of that 
flag vindicated. They contributed largely to aid in the enlistment of 
men, and the support of the families of such as went to fight the bat- 
tles of the country. The Association recruited, organized, and equip- 
ped two and a half regiments for the field. Mr. Cattell was chair- 






ALEXANDER G. CATTELL. 3 

man of the special committee under whose supervision the patriotic 
service was performed. 

As a testimonial of the esteem in which Mr. Cattell was held by 
his associates in this work, they voted that when the old flag-staff at 
the camp, around which their regiments had rallied, was taken down, 
it should be planted on the grounds of his country seat. "When this 
was done, a magnificent flag was presented to him with interesting 
and appropriate ceremonies. 

During the war for the suppression of the Rebellion, Mr. Cattell 
gave to Mr. Lincoln's administration the utmost support of his talents, 
money, and influence. Few enjoyed to a greater degree the respect 
and confidence of that great and good man. 

During Mr. Cattell's residence in Philadelphia he was several times 
a member of both branches of the municipal government. As a leg- 
islator for the city he ever had a careful regard for the great public 
and private interests intrusted to his care. 

No mercantile house in Philadelphia has stood higher than that 
of A. G. Cattell & Co. in a character for the enterprise and integrity 
that form the basis of commercial success, Mr. Cattell had other 
business connections, first as Director of the Mechanics' Bank, and 
then as President of the Corn Exchange Bank, proving himself to be 
an able financier, fully meeting the expectations which were formed 
of his character and talents from his previous career. 

In 1S55 Mr. Cattell resumed his residence in his native State, mak- 
ing his home in an elegant villa about three miles from the city of 
Camden, where he now resides. 

In 1866 Mr. Cattell was elected a Senator in Congress from New 
Jersey. " The esteem in which he is held by those who know him best," 
says Rev. Dr. Carrow, one of his biographers, " may be inferred from 
the fact that, at the last regular session of the Legislature, the Republi- 
can members refused to go into an election rather than fail to secure 
his triumph. In this case the members were influenced not so much 
by personal partialities as by their conviction of his pre-eminent fitness 
for the great post of a Senator in Congress in these critical times." 



7 






4 ALEXANDER G. CATTELL. 

Senator Cattell, by his course in Congress, has shown that the con- 
fidence of his party was not misplaced. He has been firm, consistent, 
and able in his support of the principles he avows. 

Since he took his seat in the Senate, December 3, 1866, the voice 
and vote of Mr. Cattell have been given in favor of all the great 
measures of public policy which have given to Congress so prominent 
a place in the history of the country. Mr. CatteU's speeches abound 
in facts and figures so combined as to be most effective in argu 
ment. At the same time his speeches are not devoid of rhetorical 
beauties calculated to charm the most indifferent hearer. 

To illustrate this, and at the same time give a hint of Mr. Cattell's 
views concerning the results of the war, we quote the closing para- 
graphs of his speech, delivered in the Senate January 22, 1867, on 
a " Bill to Provide Increased Revenue from Imports : " 

" The conflict is ended, and, God be praised, the right has tri- 
umphed ; and having thus elevated four million human beings from 
chains and slavery to freedom and to manhood, let us address ourselves 
to the work of stimulating the industrial energies of the nation, so 
that free labor shall find its wonted employment, and receive' its just 
reward. 

" Perfect this bill, and then make it a law, and hope and courage 
will spring up throughout the nation. The fires of a thousand forges, 
and mills, and furnaces, will illumine the land, and the ceaseless hum 
of a million whirling spindles will chant the praises of the American 
Congress that had the wisdom to understand, and the fidelity to 
maintain the principles of the American system." 












^rC 



ZACHAEIAH CHANDLER. 




f ACHAEIAH CHANDLER is a native of Bedford, K H., 
and was born Dec. 10, 1813. He received an academical 



y^L education in addition to the usual school training given to 
New England boys. 

As is common with such boys, he worked upon the farm until six- 
teen or seventeen years old. In the course of his youth he taught 
school two or three winters ; and in 1S33, when twenty-two years of 
age, he emigrated to Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business 
in Detroit. The country was then new, and Detroit was a town 
of but about 4,000 inhabitants. 

Mr. Chandler is one of those fortunate men of the West who have 
grown up with the country. He commenced, at first, a small retail 
dry-goods store, but was soon enabled by a prosperous trade to en- 
large his business to a wholesale trade, and extended, in course of time, 
his operations to all parts of the surrounding country, so that there 
were few of all the retail dealers in Northern and Western Michigan, 
Northern Ohio and Indiana, and in Western Canada, who were not 
numbered among his customers. 

Mr. Chandler was a Whig in politics, but seems never to have 
sought for political honor, choosing, rather, to set the example of ac- 
cepting office as an incident of the success of his party, than to strive 
for it as a primary object. His first official position was that of May* >r 
of Detroit, to which office he was elected in 1851. Here he served 
acceptably, and the following year was nominated for Governor of 
the State. His strong anti-slavery convictions, however, were brought 
into the canvass, and he preferred to be what he deemed right, than 



■ 



2 ZACHARIAH CHANDLER. 

to l>e Governor. In denouncing the institution of slavery as the great 
curse of the nation, he- lost the election. Theprogress of anti-slavery 
sentiment in Michigan was such that in 1S5G he was eleeteel to the 
Senate of the United States for six years, and took his seat on the 4th 
of March of that year. 

During the important period of his first term in the United States 
Senate, Mr. Chandler was identified with all the leading measures of 
( 'ongress for a general system of internal improvements — for prevent- 
ing a further increase of slave territory, and for the overthrow of the 
powerful domination of the slave power, which had usurped the con- 
trol of the nation. He was one of the few Northern men in the Sen- 
ate at that time who foresaw the tendency of events, and that the 
country was drifting onward to a terrible Avar. 

Mr. Chandler opposed all the so-called compromise measures of the 
Smith, as the virtual surrender of the liberties of the people. In all 
the Senatorial contests of that period, he stands on record as the un- 
flinching defender of liberty, and the fearless advocate of the doc- 
trines of the Declaration of Independence. These great doctrines he 
maintained by speech and vote in the Senate and before the people ; 
and if an appeal to arms should be necessary, he welcomed the ar- 
bit ration of war. 

" The country," writes one of Mr. Chandler's admirers, " does not 
now appreciate how much it owes to his Roman firmness. The people 
have become too much accustomed to regard him as one of the great 
fortresses of their liberties, which no artillery could breach, and 
whose parapet no storming column could ever reach, that they have 
never given 1 1 iei nselves a thought as to the disastrous consequences 
whichmighl have followed on many occasions had he spoken or voted 
otherwise than he did. When did he ever ] lander to position or com- 
plain of being overslaughed by his party? Yet no man ever did 
braver work for ;i party, and got less consideration than he." 

A.S the war came on, and seemed for a time to be prosecuted with 
indifferent success, particularly in the East, Mr. ( 'handler, with a mul- 
titude of other good men, chafed under w hat he considered the dila- 



do 



ZACHARIAH CHANDLER. 3 

tory and unskillful management of army operations. He was prompt 
to discern and denounce the want of generalship in McClellan. His 
speech on this subject, made in the Senate, July 7, 1862 — soon after 
the defeat of the army of the Potomac — was bold and incisive. 
" The country," he exclaimed, " is in peril ; and from whom — by whom ? 
And who is responsible ? As I have said, there are two men to-day 
who are responsible for the present position of the army of the Poto- 
mac. The one is the President of the United States, Abraham Lin- 
coln, whom I believe to be a patriot — whom I believe to be honest, 
and honestly earnest to crush out and put down this rebellion ; the 
other is George B. McClellan, General of the Army of the Potomac, 
of whom I will not express a belief. * * Either denounce Abra- 
ham Lincoln, President of the United States, whom I believe to be a 
pure and honest man, or George B. McClellan, who has defeated your 
army. He took it to Fortress Monroe, used it guarding rebel prop- 
erty, sacrificed the half of it in the swamps and marshes before 
Yorktown and the Chickahominy, and finally brought up the right 
wing with only thirty thousand men, and held it there till it whipped 
the overwhelming forces of the enemy, repulsed them three times, 
and then it was ordered to retreat, and after that, the enemy fought 
like demons, as you and I knew they would, a retreating, defeated 
army. Tell me where were the left and center of our army? Tell 
me, where were the forces in front of our left and center ? Sir, twenty 
thousand men from the left and the center to reinforce Porter on the 
morning after his savage and awful fight, would have sent the enemy 
in disgrace and disaster into Richmond." 

Mr. Chandler, as we have seen, had no patience with any half- 
heartedness, or dilatory eiforts in the prosecution of the war against 
the rebellion. He was for striking decided and heavy blows in order 
to crush the power of the enemy, and it was under the influence of 
such sentiments that he, in his place in the Senate, proposed a spe- 
cial " Committee on the Conduct of the War." This Committee was 
at once ordered. Mr. Chandler declined the chairmanship of the 
Committee, but was one of its most energetic members ; and his zeal- 



3/ 



4 ZACHARIAH CHANDLEE. 

ous and faithful efforts, in connection with his associates, soon resulted 
in the removal of McClellan from his command. Equally active was 
he throughout the war in promoting its efficacy, looking after the in- 
terests of the soldiers, and encouraging all measures tending to a suc- 
cessful issue of the great struggle ; a struggle he knew it would 
prove to be, in the very commencement of the revolt ; and he then, 
in a letter addressed to the Governor of Michigan, intimated that 
blood must flow if the Government was to be preserved. Several 
years afterwards, when taunted in the Senate by a Democratic Sena- 
tor in reference to this letter on "blood-letting," Mr. Chandler 
responded as follows : " It is not the first time that I have been ar- 
raigned on that indictment of ' blood-letting.' I was first arraigned 
for it upon this floor by the traitor John C. Breckenridge ; and after 
I gave him his answer, he went out into the rebel ranks and fought 
against our flag. I was arraigned by another Senator from Ken- 
tucky, and by other traitors on this floor. I expect to be arraigned 
again. I wrote the letter, and I stand by the letter, and what was 
in it. "What was the position of the country when that letter was 
written? The Democratic party, as an organization, had arrayed 
itself against this Government ; a Democratic traitor in the Presi- 
dential chair, and a Democratic traitor in every department of this 
Government ; Democratic traitors preaching treason upon this floor, 
and preaching treason in the hall of the other House ; Democratic 
traitors in your army and navy ; Democratic traitors controlling every 
branch of this Government; your flag was fired upon, and there 
was no response ; the Democratic party had ordained that this 
Government should be overthrown ; and I, a Senator from the State 
of Michigan, wrote to the Governor of that State, 'unless you are 
prepared to shed blood for the preservation of this great Govern- 
ment, the Government is overthrown.' That is all there was to that 
letter. That I said, and that T say again ; and I tell that Senator, if 
he is prepared to go down in history with the Democratic traitors 
who then co-operated with him, I am prepared to go down on that 
'blood-letting' letter, ami I Btand by the record as then made." 



3 *■ 



COKNELITTS COLE. 




N the year 1800 the grandparents of the subject of this 
sketch penetrated the wilderness of Western New York. 
David Cole, his father, was at that time twelve years old, and 
Rachel Townsend, his mother, was ten ; the former having been bom 
in New Jersey, and the latter in Dutchess County, New York. 

Cornelius Cole was born in Seneca County, New York, September 
17, 1822. He was afforded such educational facilities as the thrifty 
farmers of New York were accustomed to give their sons. 

When he was about seventeen years old, a practical surveyor 
moved into the neighborhood and proposed to instruct some of the 
boys in his art. Flint's " Treatise on Surveying " was procured, and 
in eighteen days young Cole, without assistance, went through it ; 
working out every problem, and making a copy of each in a book 
prepared for that purpose. 

In the following spring, the instructor having died, young Cole 
entered into practice as his successor, executing surveys in the coun- 
try about. 

It was after this that he began in earnest preparation for college ; 
first in the Ovid Academy, and afterwards at the Genesee Wesleyan 
Seminary. 

He spent one year at Geneva College, but the balance of his col- 
legiate course was passed at the Wesleyan University in Connecti- 
cut, where he was graduated in the full course in 1817. After a little 
respite he entered upon the study of law, in Auburn, N. Y., and was 
admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of that State at Oswego, 
on the 1st of May, 1848. 

After so many years of close application, recreation was needed, 



32> 



2 CORNELIUS COLE. 

and an opportunity for it was presented by the discovery of gold in 
California. On the 12th of February, 1849, he, in company with a 
few friends, left his native town for a journey across the continent. 
On the 24th of April, the party, consisting of seven, crossed the fron- 
tier of Missouri and entered upon the open plains. 

At Fort Laramie the wagons of the company were abandoned, and 
the rest of the journey was made with pack and saddle animals alone ; 
arriving at Sacramento City, then called the Embarcadero, on the 
24th of July. After a few days of rest, he returned to the gold mines 
in El Dorado County, and worked with good success till winter, 
often washing out over a hundred dollars a day. When the rainy 
season set in, he first visited San Francisco, and in the following 
spring began the practice of law there. While absent in the Atlan- 
tic States in 1851, two most destructive fires visited that city, and he 
returned to find himself without so much as a law book or paper 
upon which to write a complaint. lie visited some friends at Sacra- 
mento, and unexpectedly becoming engaged in law business, opened 
an office there. 

Though he had been active in the political campaign of 1848, on 
the free-soil side, he took little or no part in politics in California 
beyond lively expressing his anti-slavery opinions, until his law busi- 
ness became entangled in it in this way : certain negroes had been 
brought out from Mississippi, and having earned much money for 
their master, were discharged with their freedom. Afterwards they 
were seized by some ruffians, with the purpose of taking them back 
to slavery. Cole unhesitatingly undertook their defense, and thus 
brought down upon himself at once the hostility not only of the 
claimants but of all their sympathizers, from the highest officers of 
the State down to the lowest dregs of society. California was at 
that time a- fully subject to tlie slave power a- any portion of the 
Union. 

About this period lie was united in marriage to a young lady of 
many accomplishments, Mi— <>live Colegrove, who came from Xew 
York, and met him at Sail Francisco by appointment. 



CORNELIUS COLE. 3 

He contended vigorously with the elements of opposition in his 
profession until 1S56, when, the presidential campaign opening, he 
was urged by the Fremont party to edit the Sacramento Daily Times, 
the organ of the Republicans for the State. The paper was con- 
ducted to the entire satisfaction of the party, and at the same time 
commanded the respect of the Democrats and Know-Nothings. After 
the election its publication was suspended, and Mr. Cole returned to 
his profession. 

During the following four years he was the California member of 
the Eepublican National Committee and an active member of every 
convention of his party, always taking strong ground against both 
the Breckenridge and Douglas wings of the opposition, and never 
consenting to any party affiliation with either. 

In 1859 he was elected District- Attorney for the city and county 
of Sacramento, being about the only Eepublican elected to any office 
in California that year. 

His execution of that office during the two years for which he was 
elected was in the highest degree satisfactory to the people, and the 
subject of frequent favorable comment by both the courts and the 
profession. 

In 1862 he visited the theater of the war. Before his return to the 
Pacific he had been named for Congress, and the following year was 
elected, receiving 64,9S5 votes. 

In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was eminently successful in ac- 
complishing results. He was a member of the Committee on the 
Pacific Kailroad and of the Committee on Post-offices and Post 
Roads. As a member of the latter committee, he originated the 
project for mail steamship service between San Francisco and the 
East Indies, known as the " China Mail Line." The success of this 
great measure is universally conceded to be the result of his consid- 
erate management. His speech upon the subject was concise, and at 
the same time comprehensive and convincing. 

He delivered a speech in favor of establishing a Mining Depart- 
ment at "Washington, full of argument and statistics. 



3<r 



4 CORNELIUS COLE. 

In February, 1864, when our arms were in their most depressed 
condition, he made a very effective speech in favor of arming the 
slaves. 

Mr. Cole was among the most earnest advocates of the constitu- 
tional amendment abolishing slavery, and on the 28th January, 1865, 
made an effective speech in favor of the measure. 

Mr. Cole's first term in Congress ended with the first term of Mr. 
Lincoln's administration. In him the war always found a warm 
Bupporter, and he enjoyed in an eminent degree the confidence of Mr. 
Lincoln. He was not elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, but re- 
turned to California, to be very generally named for the United States 
Senate to succeed Mr. McDougall. In December, 1S65, he was 
elected to that high office, receiving on the first balloting 92 votes 
out of 118, — having been nominated in the caucus of his party on 
the first ballot by a vote of 60 to 31. 

Mr. Cole's career as a Senator, which has just begun, promises to 
be replete with useful service to the country, watchful regard for the 
interests of his State, and honor to himself. He is deliberate in form- 
ing his opinions, as he is firm in maintaining them when reached. 






EOSOOE CONKLING. 



^^pOSCOE CONKLING was born in Albany, New York, 
October 30, 1828, and is descended from a family long con- 
nected with state and national politics. His father, Hon. 
Alfred Conkling, was a member of the Seventeenth Congress, and was 
subsequently chosen United States District Judge for the New York 
District, the duties of which office he discharged with distinguished 
honor and ability. He was afterwards appointed, by President Fill- 
more, minister to Mexico. A brother to Koscoe— Hon. Frederick 
A. Conkling— was a leading member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, 
on many important committees, and universally respected as a man 
of unswerving honor and patriotism. 

The subject of this sketch commenced his legal studies at the 
early age of fifteen in the law office of L. A. Spencer, Esq., of Utica. 
Evincing an early dislike for " formalities of schools and colleges," he 
seems to have secured but few of the advantages of an elaborate 
education aside from what he had gained under the paternal roof. ' 

In 1849 the office of district-attorney of Oneida County becoming 
vacant, he was appointed by the Governor of the State to fill the 
vacancy. On receiving this important appointment he had just 
reached his majority, and yet it was universally conceded by mem- 
bers of the legal profession that the duties of the office were never 
more skillfully and energetically discharged. 

In 1858 Mr. Conkling was elected Mayor of the city of Utica— 
being the youngest man who has ever filled that office. He was elected 
a [Representative from New York to the Thirty-sixth Congress in 
the fall of 1858, and was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress. 



2 ROSCOE CONKLING. 

He served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Col- 
umbia, and also as chairman of the Special Committee on the Bank- 
rupt Law. In the Thirty-ninth Congress, to which he was also 
elected, he was placed on the Committee of Ways and Means, and on 
the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. 

By a large majority, Mr. Conkling was elected a Representative to 
the Fortieth Congress ; but before taking his seat, he was chosen by 
the Legislature of New York as a United States Senator to succeed 
Hon. Ira Harris. During the Fortieth Congress he served on the 
Committees on the Judiciary and Commerce, and was chairman on 
the Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States. He 
took a prominent part in legislation pertaining to Reconstruction, 
voted with the majority in favor of the conviction of the President in 
the impeachment trial, and advocated the resolution submitting the 
Suffrage Amendment. He presented in the Senate the bill provi- 
ding for the erection of the magnificent Post-office building in New 
York City. He acted uniformly with the Republicans, although 
usually taking moderate rather than extreme views on political ques- 
tions. He was a frequent speaker, addressing the Senate upon nearly 
very question of importance which came before it, and always in a 
way which indicated a familiarity resulting from careful research. 
As a speaker he is fluent in utterance and graceful in manner, with 
certain marked peculiarities of intonation and inflection. 






JOHN" CONFESS. 




! OHN CONFESS is a native of Ireland, and was born in 
1822. At thirteen years of age he came to this country, 
whither he had been preceded by some enterprising brothers. 
By their kindness he was favored with the advantages of academical 
education. Soon after arriving at manhood, he departed for Califor- 
nia among the earliest emigrants to that country. There he devoted 
himself with success to mining and mercantile pursuits. 

Turning his attention to politics, he was, in 1852, elected to the 
State Legislature, in which he held a seat during four successive 
terms. In 1859, he was a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor ; and in 
1861, he was the Union Democratic candidate for Governor. In 
1863, he was elected a Senator in Congress from California for the term 
ending in 1869. He has served in the Senate on the Committees on 
Finance and the Pacific Railroad, Chairman of the Committee on 
Mines and Mining, and as a member also of the Committee on Post- 
Offices and Post Roads. 

Mr. Conness ranks among the efficient and active members of the 
Senate. The record clearly shows him to be vigilant and awake to 
all the great questions naturally passing in review before the Senate. 
His speeches are generally brief and to the point, giving evidence of 
excellent sense, and a fearless aim to accomplish what appears to him 
to be his duty as a legislator, regardless of favor or reproach. As il- 
lustrative of all this, we may select almost at random various passages 
from his speeches on different occasions. 

Pending the question of dropping from the roll of the army unem- 
ployed general officers, Mr. Conness, January 6, 1865, submitted 

3 ? 



2 JOHN CONNESS. 

the following remarks, which must impress the reader as both curi- 
ous and interesting : 

" Early in the conduct of this war, nominations for high ranks 
were easily obtained. The result was, that inefficient men — men 
unable and unfit to conduct our armies to victory and success — ob- 
tained the highest rank in the army ; and the consequences were 
losses in every direction to the national cause. Why, sir, at a cer- 
tain period, during the last session of Congress, we desired a new 
Department Commander for the Pacific Department, and, anxious to 
send an officer there of good ability, of high military skill, that that 
country might be organized and prepared for an emergency likely to 
arise — possible, at least, to arise — I had several conferences with the 
Secretary of War ; I had an examination, with that officer, of the 
long list of unemployed major-generals .and brigadier-generals then 
under the pay of the Government, and without public employment ; 
and if I were at liberty here to repeat the comment that followed the 
name of each in those various conferences, it would demonstrate the 
necessity of action somewhere to rid the country of the unnecessary 
and profitless burden that those gentlemen in high rank, holding high 
commissions under the Government, imposed upon it. It was five 
months before an officer deemed competent to send to that depart- 
ment could be selected, by the exercise of the greatest wisdom, from 
the long list of the then unemployed generals in the United States 
army." 

In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Conness has distinguished himself by 
the earnestness and ability with which he advocated measures de- 
signed to protect American citizens abroad. He successfully urged 
the passage of an " Eight-Hour Law." When this bill was pending 
in the Senate, he made a speech in which occurs the following pas- 
sage: 

"When I saw the column of Burnsidc, thirty thousand or forty 
thousand strong, marching through this city to the sanguinary fields 
between the Wilderness and Richmond and Cold Harbor, inclusive, 
aud stood whore I could see the eye of every man in the column, 

Mo 



JOHN CONNESS. 



I saw scarcely any but those who had the marks of toil and stal- 
wart labor, black and white ; and if I never before that time rev- 
erenced the men who labor, I should do it beginning at that period 
of my life; but it was not necessary for me to begin then. 

"Now, Mr. President, there is considerable agitation in this coun- 
try upon this question of whether a day's labor shall be constituted 
of eight or ten hours, and I have no doubt there are those who think 
if this bill be passed, and the example be set by the Government, the 
eight-hour rule will follow in other industries conducted in the 
country. Well, sir, I hope it will. A personal experience enables me 
to say that I could, myself, perform more labor in eight hours than 
in ten, taking any given week for the average ; and then it gave more 
hours for study. Many and many a morning, at two o'clock, when 
I labored ten and eleven hours a day in my youth, found me 
yet endeavoring to enable myself to take my rank among my fel- 
lows in society ; and I desire, by my vote and voice, if that can in- 
fluence any one, to give an equal opportunity to the youths of the 
land connected with labor and toil. Let no man forget, because his 
task is made easy in this world, the thousands, the tens of thousands, 
and the hundreds of thousands who labor and toil for an ill-requited 
compensation, for a small compensation scarcely sufficient to furnish 
bread, much less to enable them to educate their children and bring 
them up fit to be citizens of this Eepublic. Make their path as easy 
as you can, by limiting their horns of labor. Give them time to 
think." 

As a specimen of effective " stump oratory," we quote the follow- 
ing extract from a speech delivered by Mr. Conness in Cooper Insti- 
tute. New York, September 30, 1868, before an immense audience 
composed largely of Irish- Americans : " I come before you to-night, 
fellow-citizens, as one of yourselves, as one of a class of Americans 
denominated Irish- Americans. [Applause.] I will not say, I know 
I could not say, that there can be any title higher than that 
of an American citizen. [Applause.] And while some of us may 
be denominated, and may be better known as Irish-Americans, it 



^ 



4 JOHN CONNESS. 

should be our boast peculiarly that we are Americans, and Americans 
alone — [Applause] — not forgetting our origin, not forgetting the trials 
of the land we came from, and the race from which we sprang, for 
that but sharpens the mental appetite for liberty, as we find it estab- 
lished here, — [Cheers] — but as American citizens simply, owning a 
part in the great cause of the Republic established by the fathers, 
and maintained by their sons, to go down, I trust, to all posterity 
for ever. [Applause.] We have a high title in having a part in that 
cause, and in being known as American citizens. [Cheers.] The 
American people, in a short time, are to determine who shall be the 
Executive, to give to the Republic a guardian of its interests; a safe- 
guard, so far as an Executive can be such, to the principles upon which 
the Republic is founded, and we are to replace the man now filling 
that station by an accident — [Laughter and cheers] — with not only 
the greatest military leader of the world, but, greater than his mili- 
tary leadership, one of the simplest and the most virtuous citizens of 
America — a man who advanced, as he need not have done — and yet 
'twas well done — that he is not to have a policy against at once the 
intelligence and the virtue of the American people — [Applause] — but 
whose policy, if he is elected President, will be to give reality and effect 
to that intelligence and virtue. [Cheers.] What is to be tried, and 
what is being tried, in the contest that is now going on for the Presi- 
dential office is, whether, after the nation, at the cost of hundreds of 
thousands of lives, and thousands of millions of treasure, maintained 
intact the national integrity -whether that integrity shall be contin- 
uously maintained, and, in addition, whether the great principles of 
liberty, law and humanity, vindicated and re-established by our grand 
successes against rebellion, shall also be maintained, and also 
whether, in addition still, the measures that the American people 
have found it necessary to enact to maintain the condition of things 
shall be carried out." 



//^ 





' 



HEKKY W. OOEBETT. 




*ENRY W. COEBETT was born at Westboro, Massachu- 
setts, February 18, 1827. His father, Elijah Corbett, estab- 
lished one of the first ax manufactories in Massachusetts. 
In 1832, he removed to "White Creek, New York, and subsequently 
settled in the town of Jackson, Washington County, New York. At 
the age of thirteen, Henry entered upon a clerkship in a store at 
Cambridge, New York, on a salary of fifty dollars a year. Here he 
remained two years, and about nine months of the time attended the 
Cambridge Academy. The following year he was a clerk in the 
establishment of Proudfit & Fitch, Salem, Washington County, New 
York. 

In the spring of 1843, he went to New York City with letters of 
recommendation from his former employers, to enter upon a new 
life in the great metropolis. After much effort, he succeeded in ob- 
taining a situation in a retail dry-goods store, his salary being $3 50 
per week, out of which he paid his board, and slept on the counter. 
After remaining in this position for one year, he succeeded in obtain- 
ing a situation in a wholesale dry-goods store in Cedar Street, 
New York, where he continued as long as the firm remained in trade. 
In the fall of 1855, he was offered a situation in the dry-goods house 
of Williams, Bradford & Co. He remained with this firm until he 
conceived the idea of shipping a stock of goods to the Territory of 
Oregon. In the fall of 1 850, he informed his employers that he desi rei 1 
to embark in this enterprise ; and he proposed to them, if they would 
join him in the enterprise, he would divide the profits with them. 
They inquired ol him what he knew of the country and its prospects. 



2 HENRY W. CORBETT. 

Thej found him thoroughly informed on all points, and so implicitly 
did the j believe in the success of any enterprise that his judgment 
approved, that they at once furnished him with a stock of goods, and 
cash to the amount of $2-1,000 — a large amount of credit for a young 
man whose capital amounted to only §1,000, from his savings. After 
an absence of a year and a half, he returned to New York, repaid the 
si J 1,000 — then divided his profits of $20,000 with those who assisted 
him. He was offered a co-partnership with his friends in New York, 
which he declined. 

In February, 1853, he was married to Miss Cara E. Jagger, of 
Albany, New York ; and in the following May he returned to Port- 
land, Oregon, where he resumed his business, and was greatly pros- 
pered. 

He now has an extensive wholesale hardware house m Portland, 
having two resident partners in that place, and one in New York. 
All his business enterprises have been attended with marked success, 
which his strict integrity and untiring energy have well deserved. 

Mr. Corbett has been largely interested in many of the great enter- 
prises for the development of Oregon, such as the establishment of 
manufactories of woolen goods, the erection of furnaces for the manu- 
facture of iron, and the building of steamboats. 

In 1866, he took the contract for carrying the daily mail from 
Lincoln, California, to Portland, Oregon, a distance of six hundred 
and twenty -four miles, stocked the road with four-horse teams and 
coaches, to the great satisfaction of the community. 

In politics, Mr. Corbett was in early life a Whig. On the organi- 
zation of the Kepublican party of Oregon in 1860, he was chosen 
chairman of the Republican State Central Committee. The energy 
with which this campaign was conducted, reduced the Democratic 
majority from about twenty-five hundred to thirteen. Hon.D. Logan, 
the Republican candidate for Congress, was defeated by only this small 
majority. 

On the breaking out of the war, Mr. Corbett saw the importance 
of uniting all loyal men under the name of the Union party, fur the 



HENRY W. CORBETT. 3 

purpose of crushing out the party of Secession in the State. By the 
prompt action of the Republican Central Committee in making a 
call., early in 1S62, for all Union men to join them in a Convention, to 
be held at Eugene City, the peril of the State was averted. Mr. 
Corbett was an active member of that convention, and was instrumen- 
tal in nominating a ticket that carried the State by about twenty- 
seven thousand majority. During the war he was active in raising 
money for the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, and contributed 
liberally for these as well as other worthy objects. 

Mr. Corbett was chosen as one of the delegates to the Chicago Con- 
vention of 1S60, that nominated Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency. He 
was a member of the Republican National Convention of 1868, which 
nominated Grant and Colfax. 

Fully absorbed in his extensive business, and in his efforts to 
promote the success of the Union party in his State, Mr. Corbett 
has not been an ardent aspirant for political preferment. For some 
years he served the City of Portland as a member of its Council, and 
held the office of City Treasurer. On the 29th of September, 1SG6, 
he was elected a Senator of the United States. 

In the Senate, Mr. Corbett has devoted himself with conscientious 
faithfulness to the discharge of his important duties. He has given 
much patient thought to the great financial questions which are now 
demanding attention. On these important topics he has delivered 
several speeches, which are marked by sound reasoning and wise de- 
ductions. On the 11th of March, 1868, he addressed the Senate on the 
Funding Bill, concluding his remarks as follows : 

" "When w T e look to the future of this great Republic, embracing 
twenty-three degrees in longitude by fifty-seven degrees of latitude, 
with all varieties of climate, producing the most delicate and delicious 
fruits of the South, with abundance of the more substantial produc- 
tions of the temperate zone, and the hardy productions of the North — 
when we contemplate this vast and varied country, its climate, its 
production for the sustenance, comfort, and luxury of man, the vast 
resources of all its varied hidden riches of the earth, comprising metals 

4r 



4 HENRY W. CORBETT. 

for all the most substantial and useful arts of life, with all the most 
precious metals to tempt the cupidity of man ; test the bowels of the 
earth, it sends forth its fatness in living streams of oil like the peren- 
nial fountain ; add to these our beds of coal, our forests of timber, our 
mountains of iron, where is its equal ? Have we the capacity to 
make them useful ? — who doubts it ? With all the thousands of in- 
ventors, combining the greatest inventive genius of the world, we can 
outstrip all other nations combined. A population from every land 
and nation under the sun, a land now happily free from the oppres- 
sor's rod, to be rebuilt upon a firm and enduring foundation, made 
sacred and cemented by the blood of a million of our noblest sons. 

" Therefore, let us not crown this temple, hewn by the sweat of so 
many brows, reared by the blood of so many brave lads, with the 
cap-stone of repudiation. Let us do nothing, as a great and noble 
and suffering people, that shall detract from the honor of those that 
lie silent and cold in their blood-bought graves, with naught but 
their country's banner over them. To me, Mr. President, my duty is 
plain ; my duty to the men that came forward to supply our suffering 
army, to succor our noble boys in the day of the national darkness 
and despair, and to the capitalists of Germany, of Frankfort, that 
took our securities, and spewed out the rebel bonds, and gave to us 
money, the sinew of war, to assist us in maintaining the life of the 
nation. I need not the example of other nations to tell me what is 
right between man and man or between nation and nation ; it needs 
not the shrewd argument of a lawyer to tell me what is due to my 
creditor. If there is any one thing that I regard more sacred in life, 
after my duty to my God, it is to fulfill all my engagements, both 
written and implied, and nothing shall drive me from this position. 

'• If this be important and right in private affairs, how much more 
important in public affairs." 



46 







^£Z//J^O 




AAEO^T H. CKAGIK. 



£ AEON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1821. He is of Scotch descent, one of his an- 
■\H44Ji cestors being John Cragin, who was among the prisoners 
taken by Cromwell at the great battle of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, 
and banished to America. 

Aaron worked at farming and in a woolen mill until he became of 
age. His education was principally acquired at " Burr Seminary," 
Manchester, Vermont, and at the " Lebanon Liberal Institute," at 
Lebanon, N. H. Having finished his studies at the academy, he re- 
turned to his native town of Weston, and entered at once upon the 
study of law. He afterwards spent two years in law studies at 
Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar in New York City, 
in the fall of 1S17. The same year he moved to Lebanon, N. H., and 
3ommenced the practice of his profession. 

In 1848, Mr. Cragin took an active part in the canvass for Gen. 
Taylor, and was an associate editor of the Granite State Whig, pub- 
lished at Lebanon. In 1852, he was on the electoral ticket for Scott 
and Graham, and made numerous speeches in behalf of those candi- 
dates. In the years of 1852, 1S53, 1854, and 1859, he was a member 
of the New Hampshire legislature. He was elected to the Thirty- 
fourth Congress, a representative from the Third Congressional Dis- 
trict of New Hampshire, by a majority of 3,000 ; although this Dis- 
trict, before that time, had been strongly Democratic. He was 
re-elected in 1857, and served through the Thirty-fifth Congress. 

Mr. Cragin was a delegate at large from New Hampshire to the 
Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1S00, and voted first and last 



A 






2 AARON H. CRAGIN. 

for Abraham Lincoln, and supported him upon the stump in every 
county in New Hampshire. 

In June, 1864, he was elected to the United States Senate for the 
full term of six years, as the successor of John P. Hale. 

Mr. Cragin is a staunch and able advocate of the measures enacted 
by Congress for the reconstruction of the Southern States. 

On the 30th of January, 1868, he delivered an address in the Sen- 
ate, in which he presented an able review of the Reconstruction acts, 
and the usurpation of Andrew Johnson. The speech closes with the 
following eloquent passage : 

" The Republican party, sir, is the people's party. It is the hope of 
the country and the anchor of its freedom. It is the representative 
of the true democratic sentiment of the country. It bears aloft the 
banner of liberty, and pleads for those rights of human nature which 
God has given to man. It swears by the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, and acknowledges the manhood of the whole human race. It 
teaches the great Christian democratic doctrine that ' all things 
whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so untc 
them.' It knows no baseness, cowers at no danger, oppresses no 
weakness. Generous and humane, it rebukes the arrogant, cherishes 
honor, and sympathizes with the humble. It asks nothing but what 
it concedes, and concedes nothing but what it demands. Destructive 
only to despotism and treason, it is the sole conservator of 
liberty, labor, and property. It cherishes the sentiment of universal 
freedom, of equal rights, and equal obligations. It sides with 
the weak and the down-trodden, and sympathizes with every 
effort to elevate the people and better their condition. A true 
Republican, while claiming an equality with the best, scorns any po- 
litical immunities not accorded to the humblest of his fellows. The 
ark of our national salvation rests upon the shoulders of the men com- 
posing this party. I pray that they may be patient and strong, bold 
and prudent, patriotic and just, devout and self-sacrificing, and res- 
olute and mighty, that we may transmit to uncounted millions and 
unborn generations the blessings of free, democratic government." 



GAEKETT DAYIS. 




&ARRETT DAYIS was born at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, 
September 10, 1801. He received a common-school educa- 
tion, and when a boy found employment as a writer in the 
office of the clerk of the County Court. His associations naturally 
led him into the study of law, and he was admitted to the bar in 
1823. 

He was early a Whig in politics, and as such was in 1833 elected 
to the State Legislature, and served three terms in that body. In 
1839 he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. In 
the same year he took his seat as a Representative in Congress from 
Kentucky — his district being that in which Henry Clay resided, 
with whom he was ever on the most intimate terms of personal and 
political friendship. He served as a Representative in Congress 
until 1849, when he declined a re-election. In 1861 he was elected 
a Senator in Congress to succeed John C. Breckenridge, and took his 
seat December 3, 1861. He was re-elected in 1867. 

Mr. Davis steadily antagonized those who favored a vigorous pros- 
ecution of the war, opposed the emancipation and enfranchisement 
of the negroes, and obstructed reconstruction at every step. Every 
proposed amendment of the Constitution encountered his bitter oppo- 
sition, yet he proposed a resolution that " the Constitution should be 
so amended as to establish a tribunal for the decision of Constitutional 
questions," which he supported by a speech of great length. He 
opposed a resolution of sympathy with the people of Spain in their 
efforts to establish a more liberal form of government, for the reason 
that it appealed to them to abolish slavery. He opposed impeach- 
ment, and pronounced a labored " Opinion " for the President's 
acquittal. 



JAMES DIXO^T. 




'AMES DIXON was born at Enfield, Connecticut, August 5, 
Ji|$S© 1814. He pursued his preparatory studies at the High 
School of Ellington, and at sixteen years of age entered 
Williams College, where he graduated in 1831. After leaving col- 
lege he studied law in the office of his father, William Dixon, Esq. ;> 
and alter being admitted to the bar, commenced the practice of his 
profession in his native town, which for two years he represented 
in the State Legislature. Subsequently he removed to Hartford. In 
October, 18-10, he was married to Miss Elizabeth L. Cogswell, 
daughter of Rev. Dr. Cogswell, Professor in the Theological Institute 
of Easl Windsor, and soon after went upon a European tour, which 
occupied him until the following summer. 

Mr. Dixon devoted much attention to literature. He contributed 
poems of much merit to the "New England Magazine," and the 
"Connecticut Oourant." Mr. Everest, in his "Poets of Connecticut," 
says, " Mr. Dixon's articles display truly poetical powers, and his 
sonnet- in particular are characterized by a chasteness of thought 
and style which entitle them to a high place amongst the poems of 
their order." 

He was re-elected to the lower branch of the Connecticut Legisla- 
ture in L844, and was a member of the State Senate in 1849 and 
1854. ile served asa Representative in Congress from Connecticut, 
from L 845 to 1849. Ile was elected a United States Senator from 
Connecticut, and entered upon the duties of this office in 1857, and 
wa- subsequently re-elected for the term which ended March 4th, 1S00. 
lie was elected as a Republican, but joined President Johnson in his 
defecti >n from that party, [n the spring of L869, he \\a- a candidate 
of tli- Democratic party for Representative in Congress, and was 
dele 1. 

SO 







/ 6Ut<^ ^^^^ 




C && . o&-r&^/<-£> 






CHAELES D. DEAKE. 




3 HE border States, upon the breaking out of the rebellion, 
were for a time the scene of severe conflicts between loy- 
alty and treason ; and during the whole progress of the 
war, only the presence of the military power of the Government 
secured the supremacy of the former. This condition of things 
brought out into prominence many men who had before taken little 
part in public affairs, and who did not enter the military service. 
Anions these was Charles D. Drake, of Missouri. He was born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 11th of April, 1811, being the son of Daniel 
Drake, M.D., of that city, for many years eminent as a practitioner 
and teacher of medicine. 

Mr. Drake's education was mainly received in the ordinary schools 
of the West. The only institutions of a higher grade which he 
attended were St. Joseph College, Bardstown, Kentucky, and 
Captain Partridge's Military Academy, Middletown, Connecticut. 
"While at the latter, in April, 1827, he was appointed a Midshipman 
in the Navy, and in the following November entered upon active 
duty, and remained in the Navy until January, 1830, when he 
retired from the service and began the study of the law. He was 
admitted to the Cincinnati bar in 1833, and the next year removed 
to St. Louis, then a town of seven thousand five hundred inhabitants. 

In 1838, he originated the St. Louis Law Library, now one of the 
most valuable in the country, and for more than twenty-one years 
was one of its Directors. 

Mr. Drake's first appearance in public life was in 1859, when he 
was elected to the House of Representatives of Missouri, to fill a 
vacancy. 

57 



2 CHARLES D. DRAKE. 

In 1860, he, for the first time since 1844, took part in politics, 
espousing the cause of Stephen A. Douglas for the Presidency, as a 
means of preventing the Electoral vote of Missouri from being cast 
for John C. Breckinridge. In August of that year, he delivered a 
speech at Victoria, in which the treasonable designs of the Southern 
States were exposed and denounced, and which, it was generally con- 
ceded, was the means of gaining the vote of Missouri for Mr. 
Douglas. 

From the secession of South Carolina, Mr. Drake's course was 
open and pronounced against secession and rebellion. By speech 
and pen he labored for the Union cause, and it was in connection 
with those labors that he became prominent in Missouri and before 
the country. 

In January, 1S61, he delivered a speech in the Hall of Represen- 
tatives of Missouri, in the presence of many members of the Legis- 
lature who were then plotting the secession of Missouri ; in which 
he took the highest ground of unconditional loyalty to the Constitu 
tion and the Union. 

On the following Fourth of July he delivered an elaborately pre 
pared speech at Louisiana, Mo., upon all the issues of the hour; 
which was extensively published at the time, and was preserved in 
the " Rebellion Record." The concluding words of this speech were 
as follows : 

"We are lost if our Constitution is overthrown. Thenceforward 
we may bid farewell to liberty. Never were truer or greater words 
uttered by an American statesman, than when Daniel Webster closed 
his great speech in defense of the Constitution, nearly thirty years 
ago, witli that sublime exclamation: 'Liberty and Union, now and 
for ever, one and inseparable!' Union gave us liberty, disunion 
would take it away. He who strikes at the Union, strikes at the 
hearl of the Nation. Shall not the Nation defend its life? And 
when the children of the Union come to its rescue, shall they be 
denounced '. And if denounced, will they quail before the mere 

breath of the Union's foes? For one, I shrink not from any words 



SI. 



CHARLES D. DRAKE. 3 

of man, save those which, would justly impute to me disloyalty to the 
Union and the Constitution. My country is all to me ; but it is no 
country without the Constitution which has exalted and glorified it. 
For the preservation of that Constitution I shall not cease to struggle; 
and my life-long prayer will be, God save the American Union ! " 
On the 22d of February, 1862, he delivered, in St. Louis, an 
Address, in which he denounced Slavery as the cause of the rebellion, 
and used these words : 

" Let it once be manifest that we are shut up to choose between 
our noble country, with its priceless Constitution, and Slavery, then, 
with every fiber of my heart and every energy of my nature, I will 
pass along the universal cry of all patriots — Down with Slavery for 
ever ! I would then no more hesitate which to choose, than, in view 
of death, I would balance between eternal life and eternal perdition." 

This Address was followed, at intervals, by others, during the 
progress of the rebellion, exposing its true character and aims, and 
denouncing Slavery as its sole cause. They were all gathered and 
published in a volume in 1S61. 

In 1363, Mr. Drake was elected a member, from St. Louis, of the 
Missouri State Convention, which was constituted in 1861, and which 
re-assembled in June, 1863, in pursuance of a proclamation of the 
Governor of the State, " to consult and act upon the subject of the 
emancipation of slaves." In that body he took ground in favor of 
immediate emancipation ; but the Convention adopted a scheme so 
gradual as hardly to terminate Slavery before the year 1900. Mr. 
Drake, in a vigorous canvass, assailed it before the people ; whence 
followed the rise of the " Radical " party in Missouri, of which he 
has for more than five years been the acknowledged leader. 

In September, 1863, a delegation of seventy men from all parts 
of Missouri visited President Lincoln at Washington, to inform him 
of the actual condition of parties and affairs in Missouri. Mr. Drake 
was chairman of that body. Its address to the President attracted 
the attention of the people, and gave no inconsiderable impulse to 
Radicalism in all the loyal States. 

33 



4 CHARLES D. DRAKE. 

In February, 1864, a Freedom Convention was held in Louisville, 
Ky., which Mr. Drake attended, and which he addressed on Washing 
ton's Birth-day, in a speech which attracted much notice and com 
mendation from all parts of the country. The following are the 
concluding words of that address : 

" The issue, upon one side or the other, of which every man in the 
nation must be ranged, is fully made up, between that Radicalism 
which will venture all, do all, and brave all for the Union and 
Freedom, and that Conservatism which, assuming loyalty, hangs 
back from the advanced positions of patriotism ; professes enmity to 
Slavery, and yet cringes to it ; avows hostility to treason, and yet 
counts traitors for partisan ends ; ever finds something strong and 
resolute, which it were wise not to venture — something prompt and 
effective, that had better not be done — something daring and aggres- 
sive, which it is discretion not to be brave; and is content to stake 
less than all for country, that it may more cheaply win all for itself. 
When between two such forces the country's safety hangs, it is time 
that the banner of Radicalism were unfurled beyond the narrow 
limits of Missouri. The nation should behold it. Why not raise it 
here? And why not on this birth-day of Washington ! Is there 
any better place or day? We have come to fling it to the breeze, 
and to plant it in the front rank, and we will do it. It is no paltry 
ensign of sectionalism, no drabbled banner of party, but the grand 
old standard of the Republic, with every broad stripe still firm and 
unstained ; and look ! with one more star in its azure field, than when 
treason struck at the beaming constellation; and that one riven, 
with her own blood-stained hand, from once brilliant, now poor, dis- 
membered, fallen 'Old Virginia!' And see! its spreading folds 
reveal an inscription, inwoven in letters of gold, flashing in the 
orient sunlight 1 What are the words? Read them, ye downcast 
and oppressed, for they speak hope and cheer to you; read them, 
friends of Freedom, tor they tell you of a brighter day ; read them, 
champions of Slavery, for they proclaim your discomfiture ; read them, 
traitors, for they thunder anathemas to you, as they say — ' The Union 

ry 



CHARLES D. DRAKE. 5 

without a slave ; the Constitution amended to forbid Slavery for 
ever; and the arms of the Nation to uphold that Union and that 
Constitution to the latest generation ! ' " 

In November, 186-i, a new convention was elected in Missouri, to 
revise and amend the constitution of that State, and Mr. Drake was 
chosen one of its members from St. Louis County, and upon its 
assembling, in January, 1865, was made its vice president, and soon 
became its acknowledged leader. By that body slavery in Missouri 
was abolished on the 11th of that month. The convention was in 
session three months, and formed the present constitution of that 
State. In its formation so large a part was taken by Mr. Drake that 
he became more prominently identified with it than any other member 
of that body. 

Mr. Drake was elected to the Senate of the United States in January, 
1867, and took his seat in that body on the ensuing 4th of March. 

In the subsequent consideration of the measures of reconstruction, 
he took a decidedly Radical stand ; as, indeed, he had at all times 
taken on all questions relating to the suppression of the rebellion. 
His resolute adherence to Radical principles and policies was expressed 
in a published letter to Reverdy Johnson in November, 1867, in which 
he said : 

" Here, Senator, at the close, as in the outset, we diverge. Cling, 
if you please, to purblind, droning, effete conservatism, and drift with 
it into the realms of the rejected and forgotten ; but I will hold on to 
living, clear-sighted, resolute, and progressive Radicalism, be its 
fate what it may. If Americans, in this the meridian of their military 
renown, have not courage, persistence, and nerve to uphold such 
Radicalism as upheld and saved their country in the day of its 
deadliest peril, they will only exhibit a dishonoring example of a 
people unsurpassed in martial valor and achievement, but too timid 
for great civil conflicts, too feeble for sharp moral exigencies, too fickle 
or earnest struggles for the right, and too small for the mold of a 
grand and noble destiny." 

Participating in the discussion of the Supplementary Reconstruc 



Q CHARLES D. DRAKE. 

tion bill in the Senate, Mr. Drake earnestly advocated the substitu- 
tion of voting by ballot for the method which had prevailed through 
out the South of voting viva voce, and said : 

" Once get the mode of voting by ballot fairly into the hands of a 
majority of the people down there, and they will be very likely to 
take care of it ; but what I want is, that while this nation is under- 
taking to reconstruct these States upon the principle of loyalty to the 
Union, upon the principle of protecting the loyal people, the work 
shall be done thoroughly. Sir, I came from a State where we have 
dealt with this rebellion in some of its foulest aspects ; and we have 
learned there, through a long and bitter experience, that the only way 
to deal with it is to apply the knife deep and strong down to the very 
fibers of the roots, leave not a single atom in which to germinate a 
future rebellion. I came here, Sir — I do not hesitate to avow in open 
Senate on the first occasion when I have undertaken to address this 
august body, that I came here as a representative, not of a conserva- 
tive radicalism, but of a radical radicalism, which believes in doing, 
and not in half doing." 



St 



JAMES R DOOLITTLE. 




-HE ancestry of the subject of this sketch is part English, 
part Irish, and part Scotch. The paternal line was entirely 
English, and in early times it was connected with the Pu- 
ritans in England. On the mother's side the ancestors were Presby- 
terians from the north of Ireland. His parents were born in New 
England, but early in life they removed to the village of Hampton, 
Washington County, in the State of New York, where James R. 
Doolittle was born, January 3, 1815. Four years after his birth his 
parents removed to Wethersfield Springs, in "Wyoming County. At 
that time this part of the country was a wilderness. But the father, 

man of great energy and prudence, was not long in acquiring prop- 
erty and influence in the community which grew up around him. 
Although without the advantage of a college education, he was 
always an earnest advocate of schools. He possessed a well balanced 
mind, firm religious principles and liberal views, and was the first to 
establish an Episcopal church at Wethersfield. . lWC*"^ 

At the age of fifteen, young Doolittle entered college at Geneva, 
New York, and four years later graduated with the honors of his 
class. At school he was especially proficient in Mathematics and 
Greek. Even at that time he had developed unusual oratorical talent 
in the debating societies connected with the institution. 

After leaving college, he read law with Isaac Hill of Rochester. 
During the three years of legal study then required before admission 
to the bar, he sometimes taught Mathematics, Greek, and Elocution. 
In 1836, he was admitted to practice law in the State of New York, 
and soon after was married to Miss Mary L. Cutting, of Warsaw. He 
established himself in Rochester, where he remained for two years. 



2 JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 

Tlie illness of a brother, which afterwards terminated in death, in- 
duced him to return to Wyoming County. There continuing in the 
practice of his profession, he was elected District-Attorney in 1845, in 
a county largely opposed to him in politics. lie performed the duties 
of the office with ability, and to the satisfaction of his constituents. 

In the year 1851, at the age of thirty-six, he removed with his 
family to Wisconsin, and took up his residence at Racine, which has 
since that time been his home. In a new T State, surrounded by young 
and active men, he soon distinguished himself. He was employed by 
the Governor of Wisconsin to take charge of several cases for the 
State ; on the ground, as the Governor said, that Mr. Doolittle was a 
mail of ability, and could not be bought. He was successful in ob- 
taining decisions in favor of the State. In 1853, he was chosen Judge 
of the First Judicial District of Wisconsin, but resigned in 1S56, to 
resume the practice of the law. 

At this time the country was agitated by the troubles in Kansas. 
The Democratic party, then in control of the Government, lent itself 
to the establishing of slavery in that Territory. When this course 
had been decided upon, he left the Democratic party, and assisted in 
the organization of the Republican party. The State of Wisconsin 
voted for Fremont, but Mr. Buchanan was elected President. 

In 1857, the Legislature of Wisconsin elected Mr. Doolittle to the 
Senate of the United States, and in 1863 he was re-elected to the 
same position. In 1860, he sustained Mr. Lincoln ; and in 1864 aided 
his re-election to the Presidency. 

For many years he was chairman of the Committee on Indian 
Affairs of the Senate, and gave direction to the Indian policy of the 
Government. Always opposed to harsh measures, he sought to avert 
conflicts and to establish peaceful relations between the races <>n the 
frontier. In 1865, Congress appointed a joint committee to visit the 
Indian country, and ascertain the necessities of the situation. Mr. 
Doolittle was chosen chairman, and in this capacity, with Senator 
Foster and Hon. Lewis Ross of the House, as one portion of the 
Commission, visited the Indians of New Mexico, Colorado, and the 



Si 






JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 3 

Plains. One result of this enterprise was the prevention of a war 
with the numerous nation of Camanches, by restraining one of our 
ambitious brigadier-generals from marching his troops across the Ar- 
kansas with the purpose of inaugurating hostilities. This one thing 
saved the Government at least thirty millions of dollars. An incident 
occurred at Denver in Colorado, which illustrates the character of the 
subject of this sketch. He was invited to address the people on In- 
dian Affairs, for his views had much to do in determining the policy 
of the Government in that regard. It was only a few months after 
the Sand Creek massacre, where peaceable Cheyenne Indians of both 
sexes, old and young, had been slaughtered by wholesale at the insti- 
gation of Colonel Chivington. The meeting was held in the theater 
which only a short time before had been decorated with the scalps 
of more than a hundred Cheyennes, as trophies of the slaughter. 

Mr. Doolittle commenced his speech, but had not proceeded far be- 
fore announcing the opinion that the Indians should be treated with 
kindness and fairness, and allowed to pass away from the face of the 
earth in peace, and not exterminated by the whites. This opinion 
was no sooner stated than the whole audience raised a howl of rage, 
rose to their feet, some of them brandishing pistols, and tried to hiss 
the speaker from the stage. But they had mistaken the man. He 
folded his arms and gazed with cool defiance at the infuriated mass. 
They fired no shots, but in silence and awe soon resumed their seats, 
struck dumb by the courage and self-possession of the man. The 
speaker continued his remarks without further interruption, and did 
not spare the feelings or the prejudices of his audience. No man, 
unless possessed of physical and moral courage, could have braved 
such a storm of passion. 

In dealing With the negro question, which for more than a quarter 
of a century has engrossed the attention of statesmen, and agitated 
and disturbed the country, he has maintained the theories of Jeffer- 
son, in which he was schooled in youth. He has always opposed 
slavery and its extension, and favored a gradual separation of the 
races by colonization or any other peaceful means. During a public 



7 



4 JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 

life of twenty-five years, he has never swerved from those fundamental 
ideas. Always a Democrat, when his party did not attempt or con- 
nive at the extension of slavery, yet when any such attempt was 
made, he was always among the first to break from his party. In 
1848, he was a Free-Soil Democrat. In 1856, when an attempt was 
made to force slavery into the Territory of Kansas, he abandoned the 
Democratic party in the pride of its power, and became a Republican. 
Before the Rebellion broke out, he often urged the Southern leaders 
to adopt a system of gradually colonizing the negroes of the South in 
Central America, and thus remove the only cause which was dis- 
turbing the peace of the country. But his admonitions were un- 
heeded, as well by the extreme Republicans as by the men of the 
South. The same plan which Henry Clay had advocated, without 
material success, was again rejected, and the almost inevitable se- 
quence, in the excited condition of the public mind, was civil war. 
The attempt to avert the impending conflict met with but little favor. 
And yet it is doubtful whether any other course could long have 
postponed the collision which followed. 

During the war, Mr. Doolittle was a zealous supporter of the Union 
cause, and labored in the Senate, and before the people, to accomplish 
its triumph. After the overthrow of the Rebellion, he favored a policy 
of magnanimity towards the South, and sought to lessen the bitterness 
existing between the two sections, and allay the angry passions which 
the war had aroused. His voice 'has been heard pleading in eloquent 
tones for mercy to the vanquished, and pointing out the evils, present 
and future, of continuing the animosities of civil strife. Although 
much censured for this course, deserted by many of his best friends, 
and charged with ignoble motives, he has held his course without 
faltering, feeling that it was his duty, and trusting in the returning 
reason of his fellow-countrymen, at a future day, for his vindication. 
The advocates of leniency and magnanimity always are commended 
when tin- wild storm of passion has abated, and the clear light of 
reason breaks through tin' van idling clouds. 

A- a member of the High Court of Impeachment, Mr. Doolittle 



to 



JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 5 

voted to acquit the President. During the consultation of the Sen- 
ate, before the rendition of the verdict, he delivered an oral " opin- 
ion" on the case, of which the following is the closing paragraph : 

" Sir, much may be forgiven, much must be forgiven in times of 
high party excitement, for the judicial blindness which it begets. 
But when this temporary and frenzied excitement shall have passed 
away, as pass it will, and when men shall carefully review this case 
and all the evidence given on this trial, their surprise will be, not 
that a few Kepublican Senators can rise above party prejudice and 
refuse to be driven from their clear convictions by party furor, but 
their utter astonishment will be, that any respectable Senator should 
ever for one moment have entertained the thought of convicting the 
President of the United States of a high crime or a misdemeanor 
upon the charges and evidence produced upon this trial." 

As a public man, Mr. Doolittle is a statesman rather than a par- 
tisan. He has never felt himself bound to support party measures 
when he regarded them as prejudicial to the interests of the nation. 
Thoroughly a man of principle, in his daily life he conforms strictly 
to his convictions of duty. At times he seems to hesitate, but it is only 
for a moment. When convinced that a certain course is right, he 
assumes it without fear of consequences, and urges it with untiring 
zeal and unvarying consistency. 

In a recent speech, delivered in the Senate, Mr. Howe, of Wiscon- 
sin, bore honorable testimony to Mr. Doolittle's integrity of charac- 
ter. " My colleague," said he, " has been a citizen of the State of 
Wisconsin since sometime about 1850 or 1851. He was for many 
years a leading lawyer in that State, very widely known to the pro- 
fession, enjoying a very large practice. He was four or five years a 
Judge of the Circuit Court in that State, before he came to the Sen- 
ate. I knew him for almost the whole time very well, personally and 
by reputation, and I have great personal satisfaction in saying here, 
and I think it is due to the State that I should say it, that in all that 
time I never heard the slightest imputation cast upon him, either for 
the conduct of business in the Courts over which he presided, or for 



£f 



q JAMES R. DOOLITTLE. 

the relations existing between him and his clients— never a whisper 
which could excite in the mind of any one a suspicion of his venality 
or corruption." 

As an orator, Mr. Doolittle has a high reputation, which is well 
deserved. His speeches possess much argumentative force, graceful 
imagery, and frequent eloquence. His manner is earnest and digni- 
fied, his utterance is deliberate and distinct, without apparent effort. 

Public men are praised more for their eloquence, wit, intellectual 
strength, and engaging manners, than for purity of character. But 
in forming a correct, estimate of the character of a public man, pri- 
vate virtues, no less than public, should be taken into consideration. 
In this respect, the subject of this sketch will bear close scrutiny. In 
early manhood, he embraced the teachings of Christianity, and has 
lived a consistent,' religious life. He is free from intemperance, and 
all its kindred vices. 



a 



GEOKGE F. EDMUNDS. 



^EORGE F. EDMUNDS was born in Richmond, Vermont, 
^ February 1, 1S28. His education was carried somewhat 
|>tl> beyond the curriculum of the common schools by the 
instructions of a private tutor. Possessing naturally an acute intel- 
lect and a practical readiness with his mother tongue, he took almost 
instinctively to the law, which he studied with unusual assiduity and 
success. He was admitted to the bar in 18-19, and eschewing poli- 
tics, devoted himself exclusively to his profession. In 1851 he 
settled in Burlington, and in 1851, in 1S57, in 1858, and in 
1859 he was elected to the lower branch of the Vermont Legislature, 
in which he served three years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1862, he 
was elected to the State Senate, and was President pro tern, of that 
body. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was a member of 
the State Convention which met to form a coalition between the 
Republicans and War Democrats, and drew up the resolutions which 
were adopted by the Convention as the basis of union for the country. 
He was appointed to the United States Senate as a Republican to 
fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Solomon Foot, and took 
his seat April 5, 1866. He was elected by the Legislature for the 
remainder of the term ending March 4, 1869, and was re-elected 
without opposition for the further term of six years. He served on 
the Committees on Commerce, Public Lands, Pensions, Retrench- 
ment, and the Judiciary, and as chairman of the Committee on Pen- 
sions. He frequently participated in the debates of the Senate, 
always speaking with force and clearness. As a member of the 
Judiciary Committee he has frequently expressed his views on 
legal questions in such a way as to impress hearers with his ability 
as a lawyer. 

€5 



ORRIS S. FERRY. 



^SiilRRIS S. FERRY was born at Bethel, Fairfield County, 
Connecticut, August 15, 1823. He graduated with honor 
at Yale College in 1844. He subsequently studied law and 
commenced practice at Norwalk, in Connecticut, where he has ever 
since resided. He pursued his profession with diligence, and rose 
rapidly at the bar. 

In politics, Mr. Ferry was of Whig antecedents, and voted and 
worked with that party ; meanwhile he was far in advance of it in lib- 
eral and anti-slavery tendencies. Though active and widely popular, 
he avoided public office until he was nominated and elected to the 
State Senate in 1855. 

When he entered that body, the Nebraska bill and debate had con- 
vulsed Congress, and was agitating the nation to the centre. He 
was made chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, which, 
in Connecticut, is a joint committee of both Houses. He drew up 
the report and resolutions of the Committee, and advocated them with 
earnestness. They were adopted, and became the substance of the 
first platform of the Republican party in the State of Connecticut. 
On that platform he was re-elected in 1856. He was made chairman 
of the same committee in the Legislature, and was again author of 
resolutions which formed the basis of the Republican platform in the 
succeeding election. 

In 1855 a proposition was made in the General Assembly to 
submit to the people an amendment to the State Constitution, con- 
ferring suffrage on colored men. Mr. Ferry knew well that many 
of his Whig supporters were strenuously opposed to the amendment, 



ORRIS S. FERRY. 2 

but convinced that it was right, he gave it his vote, and when it was 
submitted, advocated it publicly. It was defeated by an overwhelm- 
ing majority. The conscientious action of Mr. Ferry nearly cost him 
his election in 1866, reducing his heavy majority of the previous year 
to one hundred and twenty. The old line Whigs actually mourned 
over what they deemed the mistake of a favorite, and voted sadly 
against him. Some of these very men lived to confess their error, 
and openly commend the foresight and courage of the action they 
had condemned. 

Mr. Ferry, during 1855 and 1856, was chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, which is, in Connecticut, a joint committee of both 
Houses. For years, leading men had vainly tried^to secure a revision 
of the Judiciary system and laws of the State. Mr. Ferry and the 
committee with cheerful and persistent energy performed the arduous 
and much-needed labor, overcame the bitter opposition to the change, 
and inaugurated a system which stills gives universal satisfaction. 

In 1856 Mr. Ferry was chosen attorney for the State, which posi- 
tion he filled until 1859, winning well-deserved reputation for ability, 
integrity and faithfulness. 

In 1859 he was nominated for Congress by the Republican party, 
in a doubtful district. He had emerged into public life with the 
Republican party ; bore a leading part in its early struggles, and was 
fired with all the zeal and vigor of its youth. He made a personal 
canvass after the Western style, a thing not before done in Connecti- 
cut. He possesses remarkable oratorical powers; he relates no 
anecdotes, illustrates rarely from the classics, enlivens his speeches 
only with an occasional pungent thrust, but his power is higher than 
this. To a pure, compact, direct, luminous style he adds the magnetic 
power of a deep and sincere heart, glowing with the ardor of honest 
and profound convictions. He spoke with lofty and fervid eloquence 
in every town and village. The young men rallied to his support, 
and with great enthusiasm triumphantly elected him. 

Mr. Ferry was an active and unflinching Republican in the stormy 
sessions of the Thirty-sixth Congress. He was a member of the 



3 ORRIS S. FERRY. 

famous committee of thirty-three "upon the state of the Union." 
After careful and searching consideration, he reluctantly concluded 
that adjustment of our national difficulties by legislation was impos- 
sible. He made, on the 24th of February, an earnest speech, declar- 
ing that there was " no course left but for the government to vindi- 
cate its dignity by an exhibition of its strength." The speech was 
so savagely criticised by Democrats, and disapproved by hesitating 
Republicans, as to compass the defeat of Mr. Ferry. The election 
took place early in April, just in the period of apprehension and 
anxiety to avoid collision, which preceded the capture of Sumter. 
After a gallant campaign, Mr. Ferry was beaten by seventeen votes. 
Had the election taken place four weeks later, he would have been 
re-elected by thousands on the merits of his bold, manly and truthful 
speech. 

After his defeat he returned to Washington, when the capitol was 
threatened. Before troops could arrive from the North, he enrolled 
himself in the Cassius M. Clay Guard, and patrolled Washington 
during those days and nights of alarm. He did not wish to enter 
the three months' service, but as soon as three years' troops were called 
for, he volunteered. He was chosen colonel of the 5th Regiment, 
the second of three years' troops from Connecticut, and quickly 
recruited it from a skeleton to a full regiment of superior men. He 
was early promoted to brigadier-general, and served with unflagging 
fidelity wherever duty called through the entire war, resigning June 
15th, 1865. 

He immediately applied himself with new zest and characteristic 
diligence to the law, his favorite pursuit, and rapidly regained his 
extensive practice. In the same year the Legislature again sub- 
mitted the colored suffrage amendment to the people. The influence 
of Andrew Johnson was brought to bear against it. Mr. Ferry could 
not prevail on the State Republican Committee to make an active 
canvass, and he resolutely took the stump alone for it. He wrote a 
series of articles, which were subsequently collected by Mr. Stearns, 
of Boston, published and widely distributed. The amendment was 



G<o 



ORRIS S. FERRY. J. 

defeated, but by a majority far less than in 1855. The indifferent 
Eepublicans of 1865 have often since wished that they had seconded 
the earnest endeavor of Mr. Ferry. 

In 1866 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, and took his seat at the beginning of 
the Fortieth Congress, March 4, 1867. As a Senator, he is rigidly 
faithful to every duty, vigorously studious in law and political science, 
impartial in investigation, quick in perception, prompt, fearless, 
independent, and incorruptible in action. Caring far more to be 
right than to be popular, he is both esteemed and honored. He is 
genial and brilliant in social qualities, pure and affectionate in 
domestic life, sincere and devout in religious character. In him, 
those who know him best see their ideal of a man and of a Senator. 



6? 



WILLIAM P. FESSE^DEjS". 




! ILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN", a son of the Hon. Sam- 
uel Fessenden, was born in Boscawen, N. H., October 16, 
1806. Before lie reached his twelfth year, he was fitted 
for college under the tutorship of a law student in his father's office, 
and at the age of seventeen was graduated at Bowdoin College, in 
the class of 1823. He immediately commenced the study of law, 
and in 1827, at the age of twenty-one, was admitted to the Portland 
bar. He immediately opened an ofiice in Bridgeton, Me., and in 
1829 removed to Portland. 

In 1831, at twenty-five years of age, Mr. Fessenden was elected to 
the State legislature, of which he was the youngest member. He 
rose at once to distinction, both as a debater and a legislator. His 
insight into the details of political economy, for which, in later years, 
ho became so distinguished, were thus early evinced in an important 
debate on the United States Bank, in which the youthful orator dis- 
played remarkable spirit and ability. 

From 1832 to 1839, Mr. Fessenden devoted himself exclusively to 
his profession, in which he very soon rose to the first rank, both as a 
counselor and an advocate. In 1838, he was solicited to bacome a 
candidate for Congress, but declined. In 1839, he was again chosen 
to the State legislature, a representative from the city of Portland. 
Although the House was largely Democratic, and Mr. Fessenden Mas 
a Wlii-- always distinguished for an uncompromising assertion of his 
principles, nevertheless he was placed on the Judiciary Committee, and 
was made ( Jhairman of the House Committee for revising the Statutes 
of the State. 







ti< S.Ayt. 









WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. 2 

Mr. Fessenden, in 1840, was nominated by acclamation as the 
Whig candidate for Congress, and was elected by a vote running con- 
siderably beyond the party limit. In Congress he participated in the 
current debates, and made speeches on the Loan Bill, Army Appro- 
priation Bill, and against the repeal of the Bankrupt Law. In 
1843, he was nominated for re-election, but declined, from a choice 
to remain in the practice of his profession ; and, meantime, he re- 
ceived in the legislature of that year, the votes of the Whig party 
for a vacant seat in the United States Senate. In 1845, he was again 
elected to the State legislature, and was also chosen in the following 
year, but declined. 

From 1845 to 1852, Mr. Fessenden was in private life, devoting 
himself to his profession with a constantly increasing practice and rep- 
utation. During this period he was associated with Daniel Webster 
in an important case before the Supreme Court at Washington, in- 
volving a legal question never before discussed in that court. The 
question was as to " how far the fraudulent acts of an auctioneer in sell- 
ing property should affect the owner of the property sold— he being 
no party to the fraud ? " In this case, Mr. Fessenden had to contend 
against the weight and influence of Judge Story's opinion and de- 
cision, which were against his client in the court below. But he was 
successful, and Judge Story's decision was reversed. His argu- 
ment on that occasion was remarkable for its logical force and 
legal acuteness, and was said to have won the highest admiration from 
the most fastidious judges. 

Once, during this period (1850) of Mr. Fessenden's career, he was 
elected to Congress, but his seat was given to his competitor through 
an error in the returns. Yet he declined to contest the case before 
Congress, from an unwillingness to serve in that body. This unwill- 
ingness he had decisively expressed in advance to the Conventions of 
the Whig and Free-Soil parties, which, against his wishes, had insisted 
upon nominating him. 

Mr. Fessenden was a member of the National Convention which 
nominated Gen. Harrison for the Presidency in 1840 ; and of the 



(, 



1 



3 WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. 

National Convention which nominated Gen. Taylor in 1S48 ; arid also 
of that which nominated Gen. Scott in 1S52. He was a member of 
the Maine legislature in 1853, the Senate of which gave him a ma- 
jority vote for the position of Senator in Congress. But the House, 
being Democratic, failed by four votes to concur, and no election was 
effected at that session. The same House, however, though opposed 
to him in politics, associated him with the Hon. Eeuel Williams in 
negotiating the purchase of the large body of wild lands of Massa- 
chusetts, lying in Maine, which was successfully accomplished. 

In the following year, we find Mr. Fessenden in the State legisla- 
ture, both branches of which were Democratic. But the Kansas-Ne- 
braska question operating as a disturbing element, he was now elected 
United States Senator by both branches — a union being formed of 
the Whigs and Free-Soil Democrats. This event may be said to have 
been the preliminary step toward establishing the Republican party 
in Maine — the necessity of which, after the action of the Southern 
Whigs on the Nebraska Bill, Mr. Fessenden earnestly maintained. 
He was sti-i »ngly opposed to this bill ; and shortly after taking his seat 
in the Senate, and on the night when it was passed, he delivered 
one of the most electric and effective speeches that had been made 
against it. This great effort established his reputation in the Senate 
as one of its ablest members. Among other important speeches of 
Mr. Fessenden subsequently made in the Senate, is his speech on 
our relations with England ; also that on Kansas Affairs, and on the 
President's Message in 1856 ; on the Iowa Senatorial election in 1 857, 
and on the Lecompton Constitution in 1858. In the general debates 
and business of the Senate, he has from the beginning taken a prom- 
inent part. 

In 1859, by a unanimous vote of his party in the legislature, and 
without the formality of a previous nomination, Mr. Fessenden was 
re-elected to the United States Senate for the term of six years. 

Toward the close of this term of service in the Senate, he was ap- 
pointed, by Presidenl Lincoln, Secretary of the Treasury, in place of 
Salmon P. Chase, who had been elevated to the Supreme Bench. In 



WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. 



the Thirty-seventh Congress, lie was Chairman of the Senate Finance 
Committee, a position which he held until appointed to the Cabinet 
in 1864. In his capacity as Chairman of this important committee, 
Mr. Fesscnden's labors were of a very arduous character. In the 
Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses there were all the vast 
appropriations of the Government to provide for, besides the labor 
of originating and putting in operation a financial system which 
would enable the Government to meet the demands of a civil war, 
waged <>n a scale of colossal proportions. In the accomplishment of 
all this, Mr. Fessenden bore a very prominent and conspicuous part. 
As Chairman of the Committee on reconstruction, very much labor 
and care devolved upon him. He was authorized to write the Ke- 
port of this Committee, which, in respect to ability, may be consid- 
ered one of the capital achievements of his life. 

As a laborer in the important work belonging to a legislator and 
statesman, probably few, if any, excel Mr. Fessenden. For clear, in- 
cisive common sense, the rarest and most excellent quality of a Sen- 
ator, he is eminently distinguished. " There is no man in Congress," 
says one, " whose judgment is more true, whose discretion is more 
absolute, or whose conviction is more sincere." In great sagacity, 
catholic comprehension, and in that just estimate of what is practica- 
ble, he is probably unsurpassed. 

Mr. Fessenden is equally eminent as a debater. He thinks closely, 
clearly, and accurately. He speaks readily— being prepared to discuss 
on the instant almost any subject that may be presented. His 
speeches are entirely extemporaneous and are so accurately pronounc- 
ed that they can be put in type without the change of a sentence or a 
word. And then there is scarcely a subject presented on which he 
does not have something to say — his remarks being brief and to the 
point. In opposition he is almost always reasonable, although, at 
times, the stern integrity of his character may render him somewhat 
impatient, particularly when in debate he is confronting mere 
rhetoric and sentimentality in place of argument and sound sense 
But he neither traduces nor deties his opponents ; and his advocacy of 

7/ 



5 WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. 

measures is all the more effective that while firm, prudent, and point- 
ed, he is, at the same time, usually genial and always respectful. 

Mr. Fessenden's course and bearing in the progress of the recon- 
struction measures were invariably dignified and commendable. Nc 
one was more fully aware than he that the difficulties of the situa- 
tion were to be surmounted, not by vituperation and crimination, 
nor by petty jealousies or lofty moral indignation; but rather by 
tranquil firmness and honest argument. Differing from the Presi- 
dent, he forbore, however, to question his sincerity ; and while con- 
vinced that certain conditions of reorganization were indispensable, he 
refrained from either exasperating the late rebel population, on the 
one hand, or flattering them, on the other. 

Mr. Fessenden, as is well known, was one of those of the Republi- 
can party who, at the conclusion of President Johnson's Impeach- 
ment trial, voted for his acquittal. 

In the " opinion " which he prepared on this occasion, he said : " It 
would be contrary to every principle of justice, to the clearest dictates 
of right, to try and condemn any man, however guilty he may be 
thought, for an offense not charged, of which no notice has been given 
to him, and against which he has had no opportunity to defend him- 
self." 

After proceeding at great length and with much learning to give 
reasons why he regarded the President not guilty on the several arti- 
cles, he added : " In the case of an elective Chief Magistrate of a great 
and powerful people, living under a written Constitution, there is 
much more at stake in such a proceeding than the fate of the individ- 
ual. The office of President is one of the great co-ordinate branches 
of the Government, having its defined powers, privileges, and duties ; 
as essential to the very framework of the Government as any other, 
and to be touched with as careful a hand. Anything which conduces 
to weaken its hold upon the respect of the people, to break down the 
barriers which surround it, to make it the mere sport of temporary 
majorities, tends to the great injury of our Government, and inflicts 
a wound upon constitutional liberty. It is evident, then, as it seems 

~?1 



WILLIA.M P. FESSENDEN. 6 

to me, that the offense for which a Chief Magistrate is removed from 
office, and the power intrusted to him by the people transferred to 
other hands, and especially where the hands which receive it are to 
be the same which take it from him, should be of such a character as 
to commend itself at once to the minds of all right-thinking men as, 
beyond all question, an adequate cause. It should be free from the 
taint of party, leave no reasonable ground of suspicion upon the mo- 
tives of those who inflict the penalty, and address itself to the country 
and the civilized world as a measure justly called for by the gravity 
of the crime and the necessity for its punishment. Anything less 
than this, especially where the offense is one not defined by any law, 
would, in my judgment, not be justified by a calm and considerate 
public opinion as a cause for removal of a President of the United 
States. And its inevitable tendency would be to shake the faith of 
the friends of constitutional liberty in the permanency of our free 
institutions and the capacity of man for self-government." 

Mr. Fessen den's vote to acquit the President subjected him to con- 
siderable censure from a majority of the Republican press of the 
country. Subsequently, on declining an invitation to a public dinner 
tendered to him by some distinguished citizens of Boston, he took 
occasion to explain and defend his action in the case. Whatever 
may have been the surprise and regret of many of Mr. Fessenden's 
friends at his decision in this momentous trial, no one can reasona- 
bly call in question the integrity and purity of the motives by which 
in this, as in his other public acts, he seems to have been actuated. 



->2> 



FREDERICK T. FRELIXGHTJYSEK". 




FREDERICK T. FRELINGIIUYSEN was born at Mill- 
stone, Somerset County, New Jersey, August 4, 1817. He 
is a grandson of Frederick Frelinghuysen, a member of the 
Continental Congress, who in 1777 resigned his seat to join the 
army, in which he served as captain during the remainder of the 
Revolutionary war, and was subsequently in 1793 a Senator in Con- 
gress. He is nephew and adopted son of Hon. Theodore Freling- 
huysen, Senator in Congress from 1829 to 1835, and Whig candidate 
for Vice-President in 1844. 

The subject of this sketch graduated at Rutger's College in 1836, 
and having studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was 
appointed attorney-general of New Jersey in 1861, and was re-ap- 
pointed in 1866. He was appointed by the governor, and subse- 
quently elected by the Legislature a Senator in Congress to fill the 
vacancy occasioned by the death of William Wright, and took his 
seat January 24, 1867. He served on the Committees on the Judici- 
ary, Naval Affairs and Claims. In the Impeachment trial he pro- 
nounced an elaborate opinion that Mr. Johnson, having manifested 
"willful, persistent and defiant disregard of law," was guilty of a 
high misdemeanor requiring his removal from office. He maintained 
that " to suffer the Executive successfully to assert the right to adju- 
dicate on the validity of laws claimed to be inferentially, though not 
in terms, contrary to the Constitution, and to execute such as he 
approves, and violate such as he condemns, would be to permit the 
government to be destroyed." He ably supported the Reconstruc- 
tion measures, and spoke feelingly in favor of relieving the destitute 
in the South. His service in the Senate, though short, ending at the 
close of the Fortieth Congress, March 4, 1869, was honorable to him- 
self and his constituents, and useful to the country. 



7* 



JOSEPH S. FOWLEK. 




*OSEPH S. FOWLER was bora near Steuben ville, Ohio, 
August 31, 1822. When quite young he was left depen- 
dent on his own resources, but by industry and persever- 
ance succeeded in obtaining a collegiate education, graduating at 
Franklin College in 1S13. In that institution he was Professor of 
Mathematics for four years ; and, subsequently, was Principal of a 
Seminary near Nashville, Tennessee. On the breaking out of the 
rebellion he warmly espoused the Union cause. In September, 

1861, he left the State under the forty days' proclamation of Jefferson 
Davis, and went to Springfield, Illinois, where he resided until April, 

1862. Returning to Tennessee, he was appointed Comptroller under 
Governor Johnson, and took a prominent part in reorganizing the 
State government. In 1865 he was elected a Senator in Congress 
from Tennessee, but was not admitted to his seat until July, 1866. 
He was elected as a Republican, and acted with that party during 
the early part of his term in the Senate. In the impeachment trial he 
voted for the acquittal of Andrew Johnson, and from that time sup- 
ported his policy, and generally acted witn the Democratic minority. 
He was one of thirteen Senators who voted against the resolution 
proposing the Suffrage Amendment, which he opposed in several 
speeches during the preceding discussion. He thought that the 
extension of the suffrage should be " left to the reflection of the 
people," rather than be " put in the Constitution an arbitrary and 
fixed rule that cannot be changed and cannot be reformed without 
revolution." A portion of his opposition arose from the fact that the 
Amendment did not include women, and men who were disfran- 
chised on account of participation in the rebellion. 

r 



JAMES W. GEIMES. 




ifAMES W. GEIMES was born in Deering, Hillsborough 
County, New Hampshire, October 10, 1816. He pursued 
his preparatory studies at Hampton Academy, and gradu- 
ated at Dartmouth College in 1836. In hopes of finding a wider 
and more congenial field of operations he removed to the "West, and 
settled in Iowa, where he practiced his profession as a lawyer. In 
1838 he was elected to the first general Assembly of the territory of 
Iowa, and held a seat in that body, by re-election, for severaj years. 
He held the office of governor of the State of Iowa from 1854 to 
1858. He was elected a United States Senator from that State in 
1S59, and in 1865 was re-elected for the term ending March 3, 1871. 
He served as chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia, 
and chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, a position of much 
responsibility during the war. He was a member of the Committees 
on Public Lands, Public Buildings, Appropriations, and the Special 
Joint Committee on the Rebellious States. In 1865 he received 
from Iowa College the degree of LL. D. In the Impeachment trial 
he incurred severe censure from many of his political friends by 
voting for the acquittal of the President. In his opinion of the case, 
he said, " I cannot suffer my judgment of the law governing this case 
to be influenced by political considerations, I cannot agree to destroy 
the harmonious working of the Constitution for the sake of getting 
rid of an unacceptable President. "Whatever may be my opinion of 
the incumbent, I cannot consent to trifle with the high office he holds. 
I can do nothing which by implication may be construed into an 
approval of impeachments as a part of future political machinery." 
On account of the failure of his health, Mr. Grimes resigned his seat 
in the Senate in the fall of 1868, and resided several months in 
Europe with beneficial results. 

76 



JAMES HABLAX 




AMES HARLA X was born in Illinois, August 26, 1820. At 
the age of three years, his parents removed with him to 
Indiana, where he was employed, during his minority, with 
his father in agricultural pursuits. In the year 1841 he entered the 
Preparatory Department of Asbnry University, then under the presi- 
dency of the present Bishop Simpson. Upon meager means obtained 
by teaching at interval-, he managed to graduate at that institution 
with honor in 1845. 

In the winter of 1845, being elected to the Professorship of Lan- 
guages in Iowa City College, he removed to that city. Here, among 
strangers, he early won for himself an enviable reputation for in- 
dustry, ability, and an unswerving integrity. 

In 1847 he was elected by the people Superintendent of Public In- 
struction of the State of Iowa. This was no ordinary compliment to 
a young man who had resided in the State less than two years when 
the election occurred, e-pecially when taken in connection with the 
fact that his opponent was the Hon. Charles Mason, who gradu- 
ated at the head of his class at the Military Academy at West Point, 
had served as Chief-Justice of the Federal Court of the Territory 

during the entire period of its existence, was i jeded by all parties 

to be a gentleman of ability and unblemished reputation, and who, 
as a candidate, was the choice of the party which had, up to this 
election, been uniformly triumphant in the Stat.- and Territory, and 
continued so until the Kansas-Nebraska is>ue, except when Mr, Har- 
lan was a candidate. 

In L848, Mr. Harlan was superseded by Eon. Thomas II. Benton, 

v 



2 JAMES HARLAN. 

Jr ., the officials insisting that the latter was elected by a majority of 
seventeen votes. The count, however, is now universally conceded 
to have been fraudulent. In this year he was admitted to the bar, and 
commenced the practice of law in Iowa City. In this profession, 
while he remained in it, he was eminently successful ; but his friends 
were unwilling to leave him at the bar, however agreeable to him, 
or however brilliant his prospects for a distinguished career in the 
profession. 

In 1850, the people, eager to trust and honor the young man who 
in every public position had proved himself worthy of their confi- 
dence, nominated him for Governor ; but, not being of constitu- 
tional age for that office, he was compelled to disappoint them by de- 
clining the proffered honor. 

Continuing in the practice of law until 1853, he was then, by the 
Annual Conference of the Methodist Church, elected President of the 
Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute, which during the winter follow- 
ino- was re-or^anized with an amended Charter, under the name of 
the " Iowa Wesley an University." His industry and energy, with 
his varied learning and strong sense, compelled the same success here 
that had attended all his undertakings thus far, and which has never 
since deserted him. 

After two years of service at the head of the University, on the 
6th of January, 1855, he was elected by the Iowa Legislature a United 
States Senator for the term commencing on the 4th of March, 1855, 
and was admitted to his seat Dec. 3d following. Upon this election 
he resigned the presidency of the University, and was elected Profes- 
sor of Political Economy and International Law. 

His first formal speech in the Senate was made March 27th, 1856, 
on the admission of Kansas, an 1 was regarded then, and must be 
held by the student of history hereafter, as one of the ablest argu- 
ments on the right and finally successful side of that great contest. 
Such men as Butler of South Carolina, Cass, Benjamin, Toucey, and 
Douglas soon learned to respect the sturdy logic of the young de- 
bater from the West. His speech upon the occasion of presenting the 



JAMES HARLAN. 3 

memorial of James H. Lane, praying the acceptance of the memorial 
of the members of the Kansas Territorial Legislature for the ad- 
mission of their Territory into the Union as a State, was a terrible de- 
nunciation of the great wrongs which the dominant party was in- 
flicting on Kansas. 

By a party vote, stimulated by this recent arraignment of the 
Democracy, it was, January 12th, 1857, resolved by the Senate, 
" That James Harlan is not entitled to his seat as a Senator from 
Iowa." The character of this decision may be understood from the 
following brief statement of facts: The Senate and House of 
Representatives of Iowa agreed to go into joint session to elect a 
Senator and Judges. After the joint session had met and adjourned 
from day to day for some time, it was discovered that the Whigs 
were about to be successful, and the Democratic Senators absented 
themselves for the purpose of preventing an election. A quorum of 
the joint session met, however, and a clear majority of both houses 
elected Mr. Harlan. Two years after, the matter was brought up 
on the protest of the Democratic members of the State Senate, and 
Mr. Harlan ousted as above stated. During these two years of peace- 
ful occupation of his seat, a Presidential campaign was passed quietly, 
which might have been endangered by such party tyranny in the 
Senate, and Fremont made President — hence, no doubt, the delay. 

But Mr. Harlan repaired immediately to Iowa City, where the 
State Legislature was in session. He arrived on Friday evening, and 
was re-elected on the day following. He spent a day or two at his 
home in Mount Pleasant, returned to Washington, was re-sworn, and 
resumed his seat on the 29th of the same month, only seventeen days 
after his expulsion. 

In 1SG1 he was re-elected for a second Senatorial term without a 
dissenting voice among his party. During his entire service in the 
Senate, he has acted in harmony with the Republican party, which 
for four or five years was in a meager minority. He, however, com- 
manded the respect of his political opponents by his modest and yet 
fearless and able support of the measures which his judgment and 

V 



4 JAMES HARLAN. 

conscience approved, by his unwearied industry in the examination 
of every subject of practical legislation, and by his evident honesty 
of purpose and integrity of character. The leading measures sup- 
ported by the Eepublican party had few, if any, more able advocates, 
and none more efficient or successful either in the Senate or before 
the people. The published debates of Congress show that he argued 
and elucidated with great clearness and conclusiveness every phase 
of the question of slavery and emancipation, in all their social, legal, 
and economic ramifications. 

He was the earnest advocate of the early construction of the Pacific 
Railroad, had made himself, by a careful examination, master of the 
whole subject, and was consequently appointed a member of the 
Senate Committee on the Pacific Eailroad. 

As Chairman of the Committee on Public Lands he exerted a con- 
trolling influence in shaping the policy of the Government in the 
disposition of the public domain, so as to aid in the construction of 
railroads and the improvement of other avenues of intercourse, as 
well as to advance the individual interests of the frontier settler by 
facilitating his acquisition of a landed estate, and also by securing a 
permanent fund for the support of common schools for the masses, 
and other institutions of learning. Under his guidance the laws for 
the survey, sale, and pre-emption of the public lands were harmonized, 
and the Homestead Bill so modified as to render it a practical and 
beneficent measure for the indigent settlers, and at the same time 
but slightly detrimental to the public treasury. 

Immediately after he was placed upon the Senate Committee upon 
Indian Affairs, it became manifest that he had made himself master 
of that whole subject in all its details. He consequently exercised a 
leading influence on the legislation of Congress affecting our inter- 
course with these children of the forest ; humanity and justice to 
them, as well as the safety of the frontier settlements from savage 
warfare, being with him cardinal elements to guide him in shaping 
the policy of the Government. The effect of the repeal, over Mr. 
Harlan's earnest protest, of the beneficent features of the Indian In- 



JAMES HARLAN. 5 

tercourse laws, -under the lead of Senator Hunter, which all admit 
laid the foundation for our recent Indian wars, furnishes a marked 
illustration of the safety of his counsels in these affairs. 

As a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, he was the 
earnest advocate of every measure calculated to develop and advance 
that great national interest, and prepared the only report marked by 
scientific research made on that subject by the Senate Committee 
during the last ten years. He gave his earnest support to the Agri- 
cultural College Bill, though in conflict with his views of the proper 
policy for the disposition of the public lands, because he regarded it 
as the only opportunity for laying firmly the foundation for these 
nurseries of scientific agriculture, which must prove of vast conse- 
quence for good, to the whole people of this continent and the toiling 
millions of the Old World. 

It is impossible* in this brief narrative to reproduce even the 
substance of the many elaborate speeches made by him in the 
Senate and before the people. Among them may be mentioned as a 
sample of the whole, his speech in reply to Senator Hunter of Vir- 
ginia, during the winter of 1860-61, immediately preceding the 
breaking out of the rebellion. This speech was characteristic in 
clearness, method, directness, force, and conclusiveness, and was re- 
garded by his associates in the Senate as the great -speech of the ses- 
sion. In the commencement he examines and exposes in their order 
every pretext for secession, and proceeds to charge upon the authors 
of the then incipient rebellion, with unsurpassed vigor and force, that 
the loss of political power was their real grievance. He indicated 
the impossibility of any compromise on the terms proposed by the 
Southern leaders without dishonor, and pointed out the means of an 
adjustment alike honorable to the South and North, requiring no re- 
traction of principle on the part of any one, by admitting the Terri- 
tories into the Union as States. He warned the South against a re- 
sort to an arbitrament of the sword ; predicted the impossibility of 
their securing a division of the States of the Northwest from the 
Middle and New England States; the certainty and comparative dis- 



6 JAMES HARLAN. 

patcli with which an armed rebellion would be crushed, and con- 
cluded with a most powerful appeal to these conspirators not to 
plunge the country into such a sea of blood. Upon the conclusion 
of this speech, four-fifths of the Union Senators crowded around to 
congratulate him, and a state of excitement prevailed on the floor of 
the Senate for some moments such as had seldom before been wit- 
nessed in that body. 

He was a member of the Peace Congress ; but after seeing the 
members sent from the slave States, and witnessing the election of 
Ex-President John Tyler presiding officer, he predicted that its delib- 
erations would end in a miserable failure. 

He was also selected by the Union members of the House and Sen- 
ate as a member of the Union Congressional Committee for the man- 
agement of the Presidential campaign of 1864. Being the only 
member of the committee on the part of the Sengrte who devoted his 
whole time to this work, he became the active organ of the com- 
mittee — organized an immense working force, regulated its finances 
with ability and unimpeachable fidelity, employed a large number 
of presses in "Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York 
in printing reading matter for the masses, which resulted in the dis- 
tribution of many millions of documents among the people at home, 
and in all our great armies. To his labors, therefore, the country is 
doubtless largely indebted for the triumphant success of the Kepub- 
lican candidate. 

In the mouth of March, 1865, Mr. Harlan was nominated by Pres- 
ident Lincoln for the office of Secretary of the Interior, and the nomi- 
nation was unanimously confirmed by the Senate without reference to 
a committee. Resigning his seat in the Senate, he accepted the office, 
and on the 15th of May, entered upon the discharge of his duties as a 
member of President Johnson's cabinet. 

]Ii> short administration of the Department of the Interior was 
characterized by untiring industry and earnest devotion to the public 
Bervice. The gradual divergence of the line of policy adopted by the 
President from the principles of the Republican party, led Mi-. 



JAMES HARLAN. 7 

Harlan to sever his connection with the cabinet, by his resignation, 
which took effect September 1, 1866. Mr. Harlan left the office with 
the approval of the public for the course he had pursued, and the sin- 
cerely expressed regrets of the President himself. 

Previous to his resignation of the office of Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, Mr. Harlan had been re-elected by the Legislature of Iowa to a 
seat in the Senate of the United States, for the term commencing 
March 4, 1867. 

On resuming his seat in the Senate, he was assigned to service in 
that body, on the Committees on the District of Columbia, Union 
Pacific Kailroad, Post-Offices and Post Koads, and Foreign Kelations, 
of the first of which he is Chairman. This Committee is one of the 
most laborious belonging to the Senate, having in charge all the 
public interests of the District; and in addition to the ordinary du- 
ties of the Committee, Mr. Harlan is now engaged, under the au- 
thority of a resolution of the Senate, in codifying the local laws of 
the District, a work that requires care, precision, and legal learning 
of no common order. 

While Mr. Harlan, since his return to the Senate, has spoken on a 
variety of subjects, his principal efforts have been his speech on re- 
construction, delivered on the 10th of February, 1868, and his opin- 
ion as a Senator in the Impeachment Trial of President Johnson. 
Of the former, it is not unjust to others to say, that no speech made 
during that long debate, presented the questions at issue in a clearer 
light, or in language better suited to the comprehension of the masses 
of the people. It received the warmest encomiums of Mr. Harlan's 
political associates in the Senate, and thousands of copies were 
subscribed for and circulated as a campaign document, by the mem- 
bers of the two houses of Congress. Of the opinion, it is sufficient to 
say, that it is a strictly legal document, applying the law to the facts as 
established by the evidence, and so clear and convincing that none 
can doubt tl ic sincerity and uprightness of the vote which followed it. 

Mr. Harlan is a man of strong political convictions. This is 
shown by the whole tenor of his political life. Early in life, long 



8 JAMES HARLAN. 

before lie occupied official station, he was identified, in feeling and 
principles, with the anti-slavery party of the nation. Almost at the 
outset of our late civil war, with the eye of a statesman, he foresaw 
that the rebellion could only result in the enfranchisement of the 
slaves of the South, and their elevation to the dignity of American 
citizens. So believing, he always acted consistently with that belief. 
He was among the first — if not the first — to advocate in the Senate the 
organization of the colored men everywhere in defense of the Union ; 
and since the close of the war, he has uniformly spoken and voted in 
favor of conferring upon them those rights of citizenship which they 
have honorably won by their endurance and bravery on the battle- 
field ; thus proving himself the worthy representative of a State 
which has just established impartial suffrage by the popular vote of 
its citizens. 

In the Presidential campaign of IS 68, Mr. Harlan took an active 
part in promoting the success of the Kepublican cause. To that end 
he addressed numerous and large audiences in the States of Pennsyl- 
vania, Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana. On the stump, Mr. Harlan is a 
popular and powerful speaker. Natural and graceful in his manner, 
candid in his presentation of facts, skillful in portraying whatever 
tends to arouse the human sensibilities, and logical in his- mode of 
reasoning, he has few superiors as a popular orator. 

Senator Harlan is in the prime of life, a Christian gentleman, a 
dignified Senator, of good habits , and in the enjoyment of vigorous 
health. He is an example to be admired and imitated by the young 
men of our country. As a youth he worked his way through coll.-.'. 
acquiring an education in the face of trials and obstacles that would 
have deterred others from such an undertaking. As a man, by ster- 
ling integrity, a faithful discharge of his duties, and a close adherence 
to principle, he has earned the proud position lie now occupies bet. . re 
the country, and in the affections of the people of his State. He is 
a bright exemplar of the benign influence of our free institutions, 
illustrating that, with energy and application, the poor and lowly 
may lift themselves up to the highest stations. 











t%^^/ 






JOKN" S. HAEEIS. 




'OHN S. HARRIS was born at Truxton, Cortland County, 
New York, December 18, 1825. Having received a com- 
mon school education, he removed to Milwaukee, Wiscon- 
sin in 1816, where he engaged in commercial and financial pursuits. 
In 18G3 he removed to Concordia parish, Louisiana, where he pur- 
chased several thousand acres of land and engaged in the cultivation 
of cotton. He was very successful in his business although he met 
with some reverses, twice losing no less than one hundred thousand 
dollars by breaks in the levees, through which the Mississippi over- 
flowed his plantations. 

Although from the North, and holding radical Republican views 
of politics, yet, being a large planter and a permanent resident, he 
was favorably regarded even by the late rebel element of his locality, 
and was unanimously elected a member of the Convention to frame 
a new Constitution for Louisiana. After taking an active part in its 
proceedings he was chosen by the Convention one of a committee of 
seven to direct the political affairs of the State until the inauguration 
of the new State government. The committee having called upon 
the Legislature to assemble in June, 1868, Gen. Buchanan, com- 
mander of the military district, regarded fheir action as an invasion 
of his prerogative, and placed the members of the committee under 
arrest. He at last yielded, however, and the Legislature assembled 
on the day designated by the committee, Mr. Harris taking his seat 
in the Senate. He was soon after elected to the Senate of the United 
States, and took his seat in that body July IT, 1868. He introduced 
a resolution requesting the Committee on Commerce to inquire into 
the expediency of the government of the United States taking charge 
of the levees of the lower Mississippi. This resulted in a bill chartering 
a corporation for the promotion of the important interests involved. 



JOHN B. HEKDERSOIST. 




'OIIN B. HENDERSON was born near Danville, Virginia, 
November 16, 1826. He removed to Missouri with his 
parents when a child, spent his boyhood on a farm, and 
after obtaining an academical education, occupied several years in 
school teaching. He studied law; was admitted to the bar in 181S, 
and the same year was a member of the Missouri Legislature, to 
which he was again elected six years later. In 1856 he was a presi- 
dential elector on the Buchanan ticket, and two years after was 
defeated as a candidate for Congress, by a large majority. In 1860 
he was a candidate for presidential elector, pledging himself to vote 
for either Douglas or Bell, in order to carry the State against Breck- 
inridge, the Secession candidate. At the same time he was again a 
candidate for Congress, but was defeated. In the following year he 
took a prominent part as a Union member of the State Convention, 
called to determine whether Missouri should secede. In June, 1861, 
he procured arms and equipped a regiment of loyal State militia, 
and went into the service with them. He was appointed in Janu- 
ary, 1862, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the expulsion of Trnsten 
Polk from the United States Senate, and was elected in 1863 for the 
term which ended in I860. 

Mr. Henderson was placed on the Committee on Finance and on 
the Committee on Indian Affairs, of the latter of which he was chair- 
man. He was a diligent and active member of the Senate, and was 
one of the Republican members who declined to give his vote for 
the impeachment of President Johnson, and presented, on voting, an 
elaborate opinion upon the case. In concluding his opinion, he 
alleged that his oath compelled him to examine the case from a legal 
and not a party point of view, and insisted that the question was 
simply one of guilt under the charges presented by the House. 

S4 




|> «^/» /6*U- o^-^W 




. 



THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. 




j^HOMAS A. HENDRICKS was bom in Muskingum 
County, Ohio, September 7, 1819. He was educated at 
South Hanover College. He studied law at Chambers- 
burg, Pennsylvania, where he completed his legal studies in 1843. 
He soon after settled in Indiana, of which State his uncle, Hon. 
William Hendricks, was an early Governor, and a United States 
Senator. 

In the profession of law, Mr. Hendricks met with marked success, 
•and attained great eminence. His professional business soon ceased to 
be of a mere local character, his practice extending largely into the 
highest courts of the State and the nation. In 1848, he was elected 
a member of the Indiana Legislature. In 1850, he was an active 
member of the Convention to amend the State Constitution. In 
1851, he was elected a Representative in Congress from Indiana, 
and served two terms. 

In 1855, Mr. Hendricks was appointed, by President Pierce, Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office. During the four years of his 
service in this capacity, more business was transacted by the General 
Land Office than at any previous or subsequent period. Over four 
hundred thousand land patents were issued ; and the land sold, located 
by warrants, and taken by grants, amounted to eighty millions of 
acres. 

In 1860, Mr. Hendricks was the candidate of the Democratic 
party for Governor of Indiana, but was defeated. Two years later, 
his party having carried the State, he was elected a United States 
Senator for the term ending March 4, 18G9. 

V 



2 THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. 

In 1868, the name of Mr. Hendricks was prominently before the 
New York National Convention for the nomination as the Demo- 
cratic candidate for the Presidency. It was deeply regretted by 
many of his party that he was not chosen as their leader in the great 
political struggle which ensued. He actively participated in the 
campaign, however, as the Democratic candidate for Governor of 
Indiana. After an exciting campaign and a close contest, he was 
defeated by a majority of about one thousand. 

In the Senate of the United States, Mr. Hendricks was justly 
regarded as the ablest in the ranks of the minority. With great argu- 
mentative ability, and never-failing good humor, he advocated the 
policy of his party in opposition to the Reconstruction Acts of Con- 
gress. His great arguments on the Freedman's Bureau, the Civil 
Rights Bill, and on various questions of Reconstruction, were 
regarded by all as masterly presentations of Democratic principles 
and policy. 

The career of Mr. Hendricks in the Senate has been marked by so, 
much ability and courtesy as to win the respect and regard of his 
political opponents. In the course of a discussion in the Thirty- 
ninth Congress, a Republican Senator pronounced Mr. Hendricks 
" the best natured man in the Senate." On another occasion a 
Republican Senator remarked in debate, that if he had as much 
respect for the political opinions of Mr. Hendricks as for his abilities, 
they would seldom disagree. 

As a speaker, Mr. Hendricks is graceful, deliberate, and impres- 
sive, lie states legal and political propositions with clearness, and 
deduces conclusions with great logical skill, constantly giving evi- 
dence of careful investigation and thorough understanding of his 
subject. When feeling is to be aroused, or action to be urged, his 
earnestness of manner gives great weight to his appeals. He uses 
little ornament, relying for effect rather on plain statement than on 
rhetorical flourish. 

On the 30th of January, 1868, Mr. Hendricks delivered in the 
Senate a speech on the Supplementary Reconstruction Bill then 



THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. 



pending, from the concluding portion of which we make the follow- 
ing extracts : 

" What objection have you to the constitutions of the Southern 
States as amended by the people % For two years you have made 
war against this policy ; for two years you have kept these States out 
of the Union so far as representation was concerned ; for two years 
you have kept this country disturbed and distracted ; trade, com- 
merce, and business have been uncertain and shivering ; industry has 
been fearful to put forth its hand, or capital to trust to any enter- 
prise ; the spirit of harmony and of union has been passing away 
from both sections of the country, because of the strife that you have 
thus kept up. For what have you done it ? What end have you 
attained ? * * * You can lay your hand of logic upon but one 
thing. * * * You have taken the robes of political power off 
the shoulders of white men, and you have put them upon the shoul- 
ders of negroes. * * * 

" A republican form of government is a form in which the people 
make their own laws through legislators selected by themselves, exe- 
cute their laws through an executive department chosen by them- 
selves, and administer their laws through their own courts. Is not 
that as near a republican form of government as you can have? 
That was the state of things when the Congressional policy sent five 
armies into the Southern States, when ten Governors were deposed 
by the paramount authority of the military power. * * * The 
property, the life, and the liberty of this people are placed at the 
control of the military authority ; and this is a policy that is called 
a policy of reconstruction, of restoration, and this you claim to be 
done under the guarantee clause which directs this Government to 
guarantee to each State a republican form of government ! You find 
no other point in the Constitution where you can stand. There is not 
a rock in the Constitution large enough for your feet to stand upon 
jxcept this one, that it is your duty to guarantee a republican form of 
government to these States ; and in the exercise of that power, in the 
discharge of that duty, you establish a military rule and despotism 

7 

*1 



4 THOMAS A HENDRICKS. 

which is defined in the language of the Declaration of Independence, 
declaring the offenses of the British Crown toward the Colonies. 

" This is all under the pretext of the guarantee clause. * * * I 
had some respect for it when it was claimed as under the military 
authority of the President, because when you say it is a military 
necessity I do not' know any answer to that. Military necessity has 
no reply except obedience ; but to say to an intelligent people that 
you are guaranteeing a republican form of government to States, 
when you are subjecting all the legitimate and rightful authority of 
their State governments to military rule, is, in my humble judgment, 
a,n insult to an intelligent people. 

" I know the answer to this very well ; that your establishment 
in the Southern States is only provisional ; that it is only to last for 
a little time ; and that out of its ruins there will 'spring up phcenix- 
like to Jove,' republican forms of government. You lay the founda- 
tions of free institutions on the solid rock of despotism, and expect 
it to grow up to a beautiful structure. I do not believe in the doc- 
trine that you can do wrong and expect good to follow. I believe in 
the doctrine that good is the result of good, and that from a pure foun- 
tain. * * * 

" Mr. President, my colleague has spoken of a column — the col- 
umn of Congressional Keconstruction — and has said that ' it is not 
hewn of a single stone, but is composed of many blocks.' Sir, I 
think he is right. Its foundation is the hard flint-stone of military 
rule, brought from the quarries of Austria, and upon that foundation 
rests the block from Africa and it is thence carried to its topmost 
point with fragments of our broken institutions. That column will 
not stand. It will fall, and its architects will be crushed beneath its 
ruins. In its stead, the people will uphold thirty-seven stately and 
beautiful columns, pure and white as Parian marble, upon which 
shall rest for ever the grand structure of the American Union." 








^JT^ 






JACOB M. HOWARD. 




ACOB M. HOWARD was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, 

\ljjfo July lOtli, 1S05. His father was a substantial farmer of 
Bennington County, and the sixth in descent from William 
Howard, who settled in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1635, five years 
after the town was established. 

The subject of this sketch, although frequently in requisition to 
assist in farm labors, early evinced a taste for study, which he was 
permitted at intervals to gratify by attendance at the district school. 
Subsequently pursuing preparatory studies in the academies of Ben- 
nington and Brattleboro, he entered Williams College in 1826. 
His studies were much interrupted, in consequence of his want of 
means and the necessity of teaching to pay expenses, yet, with charac- 
teristic perseverance, he made his way through college, and graduated 
in 1830. He immediately commenced the study of law in Ware, 
Massachusetts, and in July, 1832, he removed to Detroit, then the 
capital of Michigan Territory, where he was admitted to the bar in 
the following year. In 1835 he was married to Catharine A. Shaw, 
a young lady whose acquaintance he had formed at Ware. 

In his professional career, Mr. Howard was ever faithful to the 
interests of his clients, bringing to their service great industry, a 
mind well stored with legal learning, much native sagacity and force 
of logic. 

In 1835 he was a Whig candidate for a seat in the Convention to 
form a State Constitution, but was not elected. 

In the controversy of 1834 and 1835 between the Territory and 
Ohio, respecting a tier of townships which had ever belonged to 
Michigan, on her southern border, embracing the present city of 
Toledo, Mr. Howard took Strong ground against the claim of Ohio; 



2, JACOB M. HOWARD. 

and, having employed his pen in repelling it, finally, when Mr. 
Mason, the territorial governor, thought it necessary to employ mili- 
tary force against a similar force from Ohio, Mr. Howard volun- 
teered, and proceeded with arms to make good the arguments he had 
advanced. The expedition was, however, productive only of waste- 
ful expenditure to the Territory, and a large slaughter of pigs and 
poultry. 

In 1838, Mr. Howard was a member of the State Legislature, and 
took an active part in the enactment of the code known as the Re- 
vised Laws of that year; in the railroad legislation of the State ; 
and in examining into the condition of the brood of " free banks," 
known as " wildcat banks," that had come into pernicious existence 
under the free-banking system enacted the year before. This exam- 
ination developed such a scene of fraud and corruption in the local 
currency of the State, that the paper of those banks soon lost all 
credit ; and the State Supreme Court, as soon as the question was 
fairly brought before it, adjudged them to be all unconstitutional 
and void ; a decision in which the community most heartily ac- 
quiesced. 

In the presidential canvass of 1840, which resulted in the election 
of General Harrison, Mr. Howard was a candidate for Congress, and 
was elected by 1,500 majority. During the three sessions of the 
Twenty-seventh Congress he engaged but seldom in debate, but was 
an attentive observer of the scenes which passed before him. His 
feelings ami opinions had ever been against slavery, its influences, 
its crimes, its power. John Quincy Adams and Joshua It. Giddings, 
both members of the House, championed the anti-slavery cause. 
Henry A. Wise, Mr. Gilmer, and Mr. Mallory, of Virginia, and 
Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky, were the leading combatants on 
the other side. The conflict, which occupied a large portion of that 
Congress, was fierce and fiery. 

With what interest did Mr. Howard, then a new member and a 
young man, drink in tin; words of the "old man eloquent," as he 
unfolded his mighty argument against the " sum of all villainies," 
and the dangers it menaced to the liberties of our country ! 



JACOB M. HOWARD. 3 

He left that Congress with the full conviction that the final solu- 
tion of the great question would be in a civil war, though hoping 
that some measure might be devised less radical and terrible, that 
should calm the deeply-stirred passions of the people. He remained 
steadfastly attached to the Whig party, and in the presidential can- 
vasses of 18-M, 1S48, and 1852, exerted himself to promote the elec- 
tion of Mr. Clay, General Taylor, and General Scott. 

In the trial of a slave case, under the fugitive slave act of 1S50, in 
the United States Circuit Court, before Judge McLean, he denounced 
that act as a defiance, a challenge to the conflict of arms, by the 
South to the North, and predicted that sooner or later it would be 
accepted ; and characterized its author (Mr. .Mason, of Virginia,) as an 
enemy of his country and a traitor to the Union. 

On the defeat of General Scott he resolved to withdraw entirely 
from politics ; but on the passage of the act of 1854, repealing the 
Missouri compromise, he again entered the political arena in resist- 
ance to that flagrant encroachment of the slave power. He was 
among those who took the earliest steps to effect an organization for 
the overthrow of the Democratic party of the North, which had be- 
come the willing ally of the pro-slavery or secession party of the 
South. He saw that such a party must embrace all the elements of 
popular opposition to the principles and aims of the slaveholders. The 
old Whig party, never as a party having made its influence felt in op- 
position to those principles and aims, had become powerless as an 
agency whereby to combat them — or even to move the hearts of the peo- 
ple. Yet by far the greater portion of its members in the free states 
were in sentiment opposed to the schemes of the slave power, now too 
manifest to be misapprehended or viewed with indifference. To 
count upon this portion of the Whig party was obvious. The great 
end to be obtained was a firm and cordial union of this with two 
other elements, the old Abolition party proper, and the "Free Soil 
Democracy." In Michigan, these last two had already coalesced and 
had put in nomination a State ticket, at the bead of which was the 
name of lion. Kinsley S. Bingham as their candidate for Governor. 
A call, numerously signed, was issued, inviting all freemen of the 

73 



4 JACOB M. HOWARD. 

State, opposed to the recent measures of Congress on the subject ol 
slavery, to assemble at Jackson on the 6th of July. The assemblage 
was numerous, and the utmost harmony and good feeling prevailed 
" Whigs," " Abolitionists," " Free Soilers," and " Liberty Men," met 
and shook hands like a band of brothers. A deep seriousness per- 
vaded the whole, and a prescience of the events soon to develop 
themselves, seemed to teach them that this was the "beginning of the 
end " of slavery. Mr. Howard was the sole author of the series of 
resolutions that were adopted. They strongly denounced slavery as 
a moral, social and political evil, as a source of national weakness and 
endless internal strife ; they condemned the repeal of the Missouri 
compromise and the consequent opening of all the new territories to 
slavery ; they encouraged in no equivocal terms the free settlers of 
Kansas to resist the tyranny and outrages with which the slave power 
was seeking to crush them. They went further — they demanded, 
not the restoration of that compromise, but, as an indemnity for the 
future, as just and necessary safeguards against the grasping ambition 
of slaveholders, the banishment of slavery, by law, from all the ter- 
ritories of the United States, from the District of Columbia, and all 
other places owned by the Government. They invoked the cordial 
co-operation of all persons and parties for the attainment of these 
great ends ; and gave to the new party there consolidated the name 
of "Republicans," * by which it has since been known. 

Mr. Bingham was here again nominated for Governor, and Mr. 
Howard, against his own earnest remonstrances, put in nomination 
for xVttorney-General of the State. At the ensuing November elec- 
tion, the whole ticket was elected by a large majority, notwithstand- 
ing the earnest appeals of General Cass and other speakers from the 
stun i]), struggling against the popular current. 

Mr. Howard was a member of the committee on the address at the 

first national Republican convention held at Pittsburgh, February 

22(1, 1856. He held the office of Attorney-General of Michigan for 

i\ veins, and left it January 1st, 1861. AVhilc holding that impor- 

* Mr. Greeley suggested the name of '-Democratic Republican party," but as the Democratic 
party had bci-n the authors and abottora of the measures complained of, the new party rejected 
even any nominal connection with them. 






JACOB M. HOWARD. 5 

tant office, bis incessant labors attested bis fidelity to bis trust ; and 
tbe published reports of tbe Supreme Court evince bis thoroughness 
and talents as a lawyer. To him the State is indebted for its excel- 
lent law, known as the registration act, by which all voters are re- 
quired to enter their names on the proper books of townships and 
wards. 

Mr. Bingham was elected to the United States Senate in January, 
1S59, and died in October, 1861. On the assembling of the Legisla- 
ture in January following, Mr. Howard was chosen to fill the va- 
cancy. He was an active member of the Senate Committee on the 
Judiciary and that on Military Affairs. He gave an earnest support 
to all the measures for the prosecution of the war to subdue the rebel- 
lion, and was among the first to recommend the passage of the Con- 
scription Act of 1863, being convinced that the volunteer system 
could not safely be relied upon as a means of recruiting and increas- 
ing the army. Every measure for supplying men and means found 
in him a warm supporter. He favored the principle of confiscation 
of the property of the rebels, and one of his most elaborate and elo- 
quent speeches was made on that subject in April, 1862. A careful 
observer of the movements of parties, he early came to the conclusion 
that General McClellan was acting in the interest of the anti-war 
portion of the Democratic party, and consequently lost all confidence 
in his efficiency as a commander. Influenced by this feeling, he 
called on President Lincoln, in company with Senator Lane of In- 
diana, in March, 1862, and earnestly urged the dismissal of that Gen- 
eral from the command of the Army of the Potomac. But Mr. Lin- 
coln thought it best, as he said, " to try Mac a little longer." He 
added : " Mac is slow, but I still have confidence in him." And thus 
McClellan was retained in command. 

Mr. Howard was among the first to favor an amendment of the 
Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the United States, in 
the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, who reported the amendment 
as it was finally passed by both houses and ratified by the State Leg- 
islatures. He drafted the first and- principal clause in the exact words 
in which it now appears. Some members of the Committee re- 



6 JACOB M. HOWARD. 

marked despairingly : " it is undertaking too much ; we cannot get it 
through the Legislatures, or even the houses of Congress." Mr. 
Howard replied with animation : " We can ! Now is the time. None 
can be more propitious. The people are with us, and if we give 
them a chance they will demolish slavery at a blow. Let us try ! " 
In January, 1S65, Mr. Howard was re-elected to the Senate for the 
full term commencing on the 4th of March of that year. The suc- 
cesses of our arms in the southwest, and the hope of converting reb- 
els into union men there, had induced President Lincoln to send 
General Banks with a large force to New Orleans, and by formal in- 
structions to invest him with authority to hold, under his own military 
orders, elections of members of new State conventions, to result finally 
in the reconstruction of the State governments. This strange plan 
of reconstruction required the assent of only one-tenth part of the 
white voters. The crudest and most unsatisfactory of all plans of 
reconstruction, it went into operation in Louisiana, and was in truth 
the suggestion of that stupendous plan of usurpation of the powers 
of Congress under the pretense of reconstructing the rebel States 
afterwards, in the summer of 1865, attempted to be carried out by 
Andrew Johnson, when he became President by the assassination of 
Mr. Lincoln. A joint resolution for the recognition of Louisiana, or- 
ganized under the military orders of General Banks, came before 'the 
Senate from the Judiciary Committee, and was the subject of ani- 
mated and elaborate discussion. Mr. Howard opposed it, and on the 
25th of February, 1865, delivered a speech in which he fully and 
clearly demonstrated, that in the reconstruction of the seceded States 
the authority of Congress was supreme and exclusive, and that the 
executive as such was invested with no authority whatever. He in- 
sisted that by seceding from the Union, and in making war upon the 
Government, the rebel States became enemies in the sense of the laws 
of nations, and thus forfeited their rights and privileges as States ; 
that consequently, when subdued by the arms of the Government, 
they were " conquered " and lav at the mercy of their conquerors, for 
exactly the same reason as prevails incases of international wars; 
that it pertained to the law-making power of the United States, not 

?6 



JACOB M. HOWARD 7 

to the President, to deal with the subjugated communities, and that 
Congress in its own discretion was to judge of the time and mode of 
re-admitting them as States of the Union. And this is the doctrine 
that has practically and finally prevailed, after a most gigantic strug- 
gle between the two branches of the Government. 

In the reconstruction legislation of 1867 and 1868, the principles of 
constitutional law. thus affirmed by Mr. Howard, were fully recog- 
nized and put into practice ; for that legislation rests exclusively upon 
the ground that Congress, and not the President, is vested with the 
power of reorganizing the rebel States. 

During the session of 1865-6, he served on the joint committee on 
Reconstruction, one of whose duties w r as to inquire and report upon 
the condition of the rebel States. For convenience the committee 
divided them into several districts, and to Mr. Howard was assigned 
Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The voluminous report 
of this committee, containing the testimony of the numerous witnesses 
examined, shows the extent of their labors and the perplexing nature 
of the subjects committed to them. As the principal result of their 
labors, they submitted to Congress a proposition to amend the Consti- 
tution, now known as the Fourteenth Article : a most important 
amendment, which, after thorough discussion, in which Mr. Howard 
took a leading part, passed both houses of Congress and was submitted 
to the State legislatures for ratification. Had it been ratified by the 
State governments of the rebel States, inaugurated by the executive 
proclamations of Mr. Johnson, all the troubles that followed would 
have been avoided. Bat that singular man and a majority of his 
cabinet strenuously, opposed and defeated it in those bodies. The 
result is known. Forced to vindicate their own authority, and to 
prevent anarchy in those States, Congress, in March, 1867, enacted 
the first of that series of statutes known as the reconstruction acts, 
by which they declared those States without legal governments, and 
subjected them to a quasi military rule until proper State constitu- 
tions could be formed on the principle of impartial suffrage of whites 
and blacks, and until Congress should formally re-admit them. In 
the earnest struggle to uphold this legislation, Mr. Howard was ever 



s 



JACOB M. HOWARD. 



at his post of duty. He drew the report of the Committee on Mili- 
tary Affairs, on the removal of Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, 
by President Johnson, strongly condemning that act, and exposing 
Mr. Johnson's complicity in the " New Orleans Riots." 

"When the contest between the two branches of the government 
resulted in the impeachment of Mr. Johnson by the House of Repre- 
sentatives, Mr. Howard voted the accused guilty of the high crimes 
and misdemeanors charged in the articles of impeachment. He is a 
man of medium stature, compact frame, and much power of endur- 
ance. He is an eloquent speaker and a formidable antagonist in de- 
bate. He is as exemplary in his private life as honorable in his 
public career. 



?* 





i t, ff~&nsi,-e^ 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 




JP IMOTHY O. HOWE is a native of Livermore, Maine, and 
was born on the 24th of February, 1816. Many generations 
since, his ancestors settled in Massachusetts. His father 
was a physician, living in a strictly rural district, having a wide prac- 
tice among the farming community of fifty years ago. 

After receiving a good common school education, Mr. Howe 
studied law, first with Hon. Samuel P. Benson, of Winthrop, and 
subsequently with Judge Robinson, of Ellsworth. In 1839 he was 
admitted to the bar, and immediately commenced the practice of his 
profession, at Readfield. In 1841 he married Miss L. A. Haynes. 

In politics, he was an ardent Whig, and a devoted admirer of 
Henry Clay. Taking a warm interest in political questions, he was 
elected by the Whigs of his district as a member of the popular 
branch of the Maine Legislature of 1815. The Hon. William Pitt 
Fessenden was a member of the same body. In the Legislature he 
took an active part in discussions, and was recognized as a young 
man of unusual promise. 

In the latter part of that year he removed from Maine to the 
Territory of Wisconsin, and opened a law office at Green Bay, which, 
at that time, was a small village, separated from the more thickly 
settled parts of the Territory by a wide belt of forest, extending for 
forty or fifty miles to the southward. He soon became known, how- 
ever, to the people of the Territory, and upon its admission into the 
Union, in 1848, was nominated by the Whigs for Congress. The 
district being largely Democratic, he was defeated. In 1850 he was 
elected Judge of the Circuit Court. At that time the Circuit Judges 
of the State were also Judges of the Supreme Court, and Judge 
Howe was, during a part of his term, Chief Justice of the State. In 



2 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

1854, immediately after the passage of the Nebraska bill, the Whigs, 
Free Soilers, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats, of Wisconsin, met in 
mass convention at Madison, the capital, and organized the Republi- 
can party in that State. This occurred two years before the national 
organization of the party. Judge Howe was then on the bench, 
and took no active part in politics, but published a letter expressing 
his hearty approbation of the movement. The following year he 
resigned his office as Judge and resumed the practice of the law. 
He bore a leading part in the State canvass of that and the following 
year, as a speaker, in the advocacy of Republican principles and 
the election of the nominees of the Republican party. 

The year 1S56 was signalized by one of the most remarkable judi- 
cial trials in the history of jurisprudence. At the general election 
in November, 1855, Hon. Win. A. Barstow, then the Governor of 
Wisconsin, was the Democratic candidate for re-election. The can- 
didate of the Republican or opposition party was Hon. Coles Bash- 
ford, recently a delegate from the Territory of Arizona in the For- 
tieth Congress. 

The canvassers determined that Mr. Barstow had received the 
greatest number of votes. In pursuance of that determination a 
certificate of election was issued to him, signed by the Secretary of 
State, and authenticated by the great seal of the State, and on the 
opening of the next political year Mr. Barstow took the oath of 
office, and was re-inaugurated with imposing ceremonies and much 
display of military force. Mr. Bashford averred that, in fact, the 
greater number of legal votes were cast for him, and not for Mr. 
Barstow. lie contended that the canvass was fraudulent and false, 
and he resolved to try the validity of Mr. Barstow's title by a suit 
at law. Accordingly he also took the oath of office. On the L5th 
of January the Attorney-General filed, in the Supreme Court of 
tlir State, an information in the nature of quo warranto against the 
acting Governor. That is supposed to be the only instance in the 
history of Government, when the people of a State have appealed to 
thf judicial authority to dispossess an incumbent of the executive 
office. 



( 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 3 

Some of the best professional talent in the State was employed in the 
conduct of the cause, and in its progress party feeling was stirred to its 
lowest depths. An attempt was made to deter the prosecution by threats 
that the litigation would be protracted so that no judgment could 
be obtained during the Gubernatorial term. It was broadly hinted 
on the argument, and freely asserted by a portion of the press, that, if 
the court should give judgment for the relator, the respondent, hav- 
ing already the command of the militia of the State, would not submit 
to the judgment. For the relator appeared, besides Mr. Howe, Mr. 
E. G. Ryan, Mr. J. H. Knowlton, and the late Postmaster-General, 
Hon. A. W. Randall, while the defence was managed by Mr. J. E. 
Arnold, Judge Orton and the present Senator Carpenter. 

It was expected that Mr. Ryan would lead the prosecution. He 
was a Democrat in politics, and so was politically opposed to his 
client ; and, moreover, was a lawyer unsurpassed for ripe learning 
and forensic ability by any member of the profession in the United 
States. But an unfortunate disagreement between him and the court, 
in the commencement of the contest, induced his temporary withdraw- 
al from the case, and thereupon the lead was assigned to Mr. Howe. 

A sketch of the progress of the case would hardly fail to interest 
both the professional and the general reader ; but space forbids. The 
prosecution, however, was completely triumphant. In spite of threat- 
ened delays, the court unanimously gave judgment for the relator, 
on the 24th day of March, 1856 — but little more than two months 
from the commencement of proceedings — and in spite of threatened 
resistance, the relator was, on the next day, quietly and peaceably 
installed in the office. 

The reputation won by Judge Howe, in the management of that 
great State trial, gave to his name marked prominence as a candidate 
for the U. S. Senate in the place of Hon. Henry Dodge, whose term 
expired on the 4th of March, 1857. 

When the Legislature assembled, his election was regarded as al 
most certain. But no sooner had the canvass for Senator fairly 
opened, than a novel question was raised in the party, for an explana- 
tion of which it is necessary to refer to events that had transpired 

fof 



4 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

some years before. In 1854 a fugitive slave from Missouri was 
arrested at Racine, Wisconsin, taken to Milwaukee, and there 
thrown into jail for security, while the master was engaged in com- 
plying with the legal forms necessary to enable him to reclaim his 
human property. The fugitive had been treated with great bar- 
barity at the time of his arrest, and popular feeling, inflamed by this 
circumstance, and by detestation of Slavery and the Fugitive Slave 
act, became so turbulent that it resulted in the organization of a mob 
which broke open the jail, released the fugitive, and sent him to Can- 
ada. Some of the prominent actors in this proceeding were arrested 
for violating the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law, but were re- 
leased upon a writ of habeas corpus, partly upon technical grounds, 
and partly on the ground that the Fugitive Slave act was unconsti- 
tutional. Subsequently the case came before the Supreme Court of 
the State, and one of the Judges delivered a very elaborate opinion, 
pronouncing the Fugitive act unconstitutional, and affirming the 
most ultra doctrines of the State Rights school of Southern politi- 
cians, but applying them to the detriment instead of the support of 
slavery. The decision became at once immensely popular with a 
great number of radical anti-slavery men in the State, and was 
thought by them to be an admirable example of capturing the guns 
of an enemy and turning them against him. This class of Republi- 
cans regarded what they termed an anti-State Rights Republican as 
a little worse than an out and out pro-slavery Democrat. Accord- 
ingly, when the senatorial election approached, in the winter of 1 v "'7. 
the friends of other candidates raised the cry of State Rights, and 
averred that Judge Howe was unsound on that issue. In a caucus 
of the Republican members of the Legislature a resolution was 
adopted in substance identical with the first of the celebrated Ken- 
tucky resolutions of 1798, declaring the right of each State to be the 
final judge of the constitutionality of laws of the United States, and 
in case of infractions upon what it held to be its rights, that it should 
determine for itself as to the mode and measure of redress. Each 
of the candidates was requested to declare whether or not he ap- 
proved of the doctrines of the resolution. Judge Howe alone re- 

f Z 



TIMOTHY 0. HOWE. 5 

fused to endorse them. He preferred to remain a private citizen 
rather than secure a seat in the Senate by endorsing doctrines which 
he regarded as unsupported by the Constitution, and in practice fatal 
to the perpetuity of the Union. The result was that he was de- 
feated, and the Hon. James R. Doolittle elected. But his defeat on 
such grounds attached to him, by the strongest ties of per- 
sonal esteem and devotion, a large body of influential mem- 
bers of the party who were in harmony with him on the 
question of State Sovereignty. They agreed with their opponents 
that the Fugitive Slave law was an infamous statute, and they thought 
it unconstitutional ; but they denied that a State court possessed the 
right of passing final judgment upon a law of the United States. Upon 
this question a dangerous division continued among the Kepnblicans of 
Wisconsin, until the breaking out of the rebellion. Judge Howe was 
the leader of the Republicans who repudiated the State Sovereignty 
theory. At every Republican State Convention the question arose, and 
the opponents of State Sovereignty, only by dint of the most strenu- 
ous efforts, succeeded in fighting off an endorsement of the principle 
in the Republican platform of the State. On two occasions, once be- 
fore a Republican State Convention, and again in the Assembly Cham- 
ber during the session of the Legislature, Judge Howe met in debate 
the ablest and most brilliant champions of the State Sovereignty the- 
ory, the Hon. Carl Schurz, then a resident of Wisconsin, and Judge 
A. D. Smith, the author of the opinion pronouncing the Fugitive law 
null and void, and achieved a signal victory over them in the argu- 
ment of the question. The next senatorial election in Wisconsin occur- 
red in the winter of 1861. In the pretended secession of the Southern 
States, justified upon the ground of the sovereignty of each State, the 
people had a practical illustration of the ultimate consequence of the 
doctrine. It was the vindication of Judge Howe. The quality of 
his Republicanism was no longer questioned, and a Republican Leg- 
islature elected him to the Senate. From that time to the present 
ne has borne himself in all the new and perplexing crises, that have 
occurred in our political history in such a manner as to secure 
the approbation of his constituents, and the esteem and confidence of 

/0 3 



6 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

his associates. During the war he served on the Senate Committee 
on Finance, and several minor committees, and in the Fortieth Con- 
gress was Chairman of the Committee on Claims, and a member of 
the Committee on Appropriations, and on the Public Library. He 
was among the earliest advocates of Emancipation, of Universal Suf- 
frage?, and of the right and expediency of establishing Territorial Gov- 
ernments over those districts of country in which Civil Government 
was overthrown by Rebellion. As a consequence he was among the 
foremost of those who took issue with the policy of President John- 
son — and some of his ablest speeches in the Senate were delivered in 
the winter of 1865-1866, at the time when the division between the 
Radical and the Johnson Republicans began to assume the form of 
an open rupture. 

Upon the expiration of his term, in 1S67, Senator Howe was re 
elected. Few representatives have ever received so signal evidence 
of the esteem and confidence of their constituency as was awarded 
him on that occasion. Every Republican member of the Legisla- 
ture favored his re-election. No other candidate was spoken of. 
He was the unanimous choice of his party. In his senatorial career, 
he had displayed so much of ability, so much of consistency and 
steadfast adherence to principle, that the people of his State de- 
manded his re-election with unexampled unanimity. As a conse- 
quence, no legislative caucus was held to nominate a candidate for 
Senator, and Mr. Howe received the unanimous vote of the Repub- 
lican members when the election occurred. 

In politics, as may be gathered from the above, Senator Howe 
is a Radical. He would abridge no man's rights on account of 
creed, or race, or complexion. As a speaker, he is deliberate and 
impressive, with a ready command of language and all the resources 
of extemporaneous oratory. He appears, indeed, to the best advan- 
tage in the sudden exigencies of debate, the excitement of the occa- 
sion stimulating his faculties, and rousing them to the fullest action. 
In private lite, lie is social and genial, attaching men to him by his 
cordiality and frankness, and winning their enduring respect by his 
purity of character and genuine worth. 

[0 y 



EEYEKDY JOHN'SCXN'. 



w^juNE of the few remaining statesmen of the times who link 
the present with the past, is Reverdy Johnson, Senator 
from Maryland. John Johnson, his father, was an emi- 
nent lawyer, who held the offices of Attorney General, Judge 
of the Court of Appeals, and Chancellor of Maryland. His 
mother was of French ancestry. The name of her family, 
Revardi, is perpetuated, with a slight orthographic alteration 
in that of her distinguished son. 

Reverdy Johnson was "born in Annapolis, Maryland, May 
21, 1796. He entered the Primary Department of St. John's 
College, in his native town, when six years old. Here he 
pursued his studies for ten years. At the age of sixteen he 
left the institution without graduating, yet having pursued a 
thorough course of classical and mathematical training. 

On leaving college, he commenced the study of the law, 
under the direction of his father. 

One day, as the young law-student was poring over his 
books, news came that the British were about to make an 
attack on Washington. The whole community was aroused, 
and a company of volunteers was hastily formed to aid in 
defending the Capital. Young Johnson joined them on such 
a sudden impulse that he did not stop to put off the slippers 
which he wore in the law-office ; and the consequence was 
that, before he had marched half-way to Washington, he 
was completely barefoot. The company reached the neighbor- 
hood of Washington in time to participate in the battle of 
Bladensburg, on the 24th of August, 1814. Soon after this 






A REVERDY JOHNSON. 

engagement young Johnson was attacked with a serious illness, 
which put a sudden termination to his military history. 

Having resumed his law studies, Reverdy Johnson was 
admitted to the har in 1815, and was soon after appointed 
Deputy Attorney General for Prince George's and St. Mary's 
counties. 

In 1817 he removed to Baltimore, and while engaged in 
an extensive practice of the law, held the office of Chief Com- 
missioner of Insolvent Debtors. 

In addition to regular professional and official duties, he 
was, during a number of years, partially occupied in the 
literary labor of reporting judicial decisions, which were pub- 
lished in seven volumes, under the title of "Johnson's Mary- 
land Eeports." 

In 1821 he was elected to the State Senate of Maryland 
for a term of five years, and was re-elected for a second term, 
"but resigned after serving two years. 

During twenty years which followed, he gave his undivided 
attention to professional business. In legal learning and skill 
he reached a rank and reputation unsurpassed in the American 
Bar. He was employed in arguing many important cases 
before the Supreme Court of the United States. His services 
were sought in distant portions of the United States and in 
Europe. He made journeys to New Orleans and California, 
to try important cases. On one occasion he went to England, 
as attorney in an important case which involved a heavy claim 
against the Government of the United States. 

In 1833 Mr. Johnson met with an accident, which resulted 
in a partial loss of his eyesight. Mr. Stanley, a member of 
Congress from North Carolina, having been challenged to fight 
a duel by Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, went to Mr. Johnson's 
residence, near Baltimore, for the purpose of preparing for the 
conflict. He requested Mr. Johnson to assist him in some 
preparatory practice with his pistol. Mr. Stanley succeeding 



REVERDY JOHNSON. 3 

very badly in his practice, Mr. Johnson took the pistol, and 
fired at a small locust tree, about ten feet distant. He struck 
the target, but the ball rebounded and entered his left eye. 
A surgeon was summoned, and the bullet was extracted ; but 
the sight of the eye was lost. 

Mr. Johnson was a Whig in politics ; yet, when the memo- 
rable Presidential contest of 1824 was narrowed down to a 
choice between Jackson and Adams, he favored the election of 
the former. He frankly told Mr. Clay, whose warm friend 
he was, that the great political error of his life was casting 
his influence for Adams instead of Jackson. 

In 1845 Mr. Johnson was elected a United States Senator 
from Maryland, and, differing from a majority of his party, he 
favored the Mexican war. On the accession of General Taylor 
to the Presidency, in 1849, Mr. Johnson was appointed Attor- 
ney General of the United States, whereupon he resigned his 
seat in the Senate. On the death of President Taylor, he 
resigned his office, and resumed his private practice. 

When the wicked policy of the Southern leaders had led 
the people to the verge of rebellion, Mr. Johnson, although in 
private life, did not fail to raise his voice and use* his influ- 
ence against the heresy of secession. In December, 1860, at 
the close of an argument before the Supreme Court, he pro- 
nounced one of the most eloquent eulogies on the Union, and 
presented one of the most thrilling delineations of the wicked- 
ness and folly involved in its overthrow, to be found in the 
annals of American oratory. 

On the 10th of January, 1801, when Maryland was poised 
between loyalty and rebellion, Mr. Johnson addressed an assem- 
blage of many thousands of the citizens of Baltimore, in an 
overwhelming argument against the crime of secession. He 
administered a withering rebuke to South Carolina, which he 
characterized as "that gallant State of vast pretensions, but 
little power." "If," said he, '"the cannon maintains the 



4 REVERDY JOHNSON. 

honor of our standard, and blood is shed in its defence, it 
will be because the United States cannot permit its surrender 
without indelible disgrace and foul abandonment of duty." 

This speech gave Mr. Johnson rank among the foremost 
defenders of the Union. In 1862 the Legislature of Maryland 
elected him as a Union man to the United States Senate, in 
which he took his seat in March, 1863. 

Mr. Johnson has been one of the most faithful and laborious 
members of the Senate. He has generally acted with the mi- 
nority, and yet has frequently shown that he is not bound by 
party trammels. In March, 1864, he gave his vote in favor of 
the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. 

As a member of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, in 
the Thirty-Ninth Congress, he generally opposed the views of 
the majority and favored the immediate re-admission of the 
Southern States. 

He opposed what was called the " Military Reconstruction 
Bill" when it was under discussion in the Senate, but when 
it was returned with the President's objections, he spoke and 
voted in favor of its final passage over the veto, as the mildest 
terms which the South were likely to obtain. He regarded it 
as the means through which the South might be ''rescued and 
restored ere long to prosperity and a healthful condition, and 
the free institutions of our country preserved." 

Mr. JOHNSON is of medium stature, with such a build of body 
as indicates great physical endurance. His countenance habit- 
ually wears a sober, serious expression, seldom relaxing into a 
smile. He possesses agreeable manners, combined with a dig- 
nity appropriate to his venerable age and high position. As a 
speaker, his manner attracts and retains the attention, which 
his matter abundantly repays. He enters with zeal into what- 
ever subject of discussion deserves his attention and demands 
his utterance. 

( - 







1 







WILLIAM P. KELLOGG. 




rILLIAM PITT KELLOGG was born in Vermont, Decem- 
ber 18, 1S30. He was educated at Norwich University 
in his native State, and in 1848 removed to Illinois. 
He studied law at Peoria, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and com- 
menced practice in Fulton County. In 1856 he was a candidate for 
the State Legislature, but through a coalition between Democrats 
and " Americans " he was defeated by a small majority, though 
running two hundred ahead of his ticket. He was a presidential 
elector on the Lincoln ticket in 1860, and enjoyed the satisfaction 
of aiding to elevate his old friend and neighbor to the highest office 
in the gift of the nation. In 1861 Mr. Kellogg was appointed by 
Mr. Lincoln chief justice of Nebraska. 

He was soon after commissioned by Governor Yates as colonel of 
the 7th Eegiment of Illinois Cavalry, when he obtained leave of 
absence from the territory and entered the military service. He 
subsequently returned to Omaha to hold court, and then resigned his 
judgeship for the purpose of devoting himself wholly to military 
duties. He was present at the taking of New Madrid, when his 
regiment captured four guns from the enemy. He accompanied Gen. 
Pope's army up the Tennessee, in command of Gen. Granger's cavalry 
brigade, and took part in the capture of Corinth. In April, 1865, he 
was appointed collector of the port of New Orleans, his commission 
being signed by Mr. Lincoln on the afternoon of the evening on which 
he was assassinated. While collector, Mr. Kellogg appointed and 
commissioned as revenue inspector the first colored man appointed 
to such position in any Custom House in the United States. In 
July, 1868, he was elected United States Senator from Louisiana, 
and was soon after admitted to his seat for the term ending March 
4, 1873. He was assigned to membership on the Committees on 
Commerce, Claims, and Private Land Claims, 

fOj 



THOMAS O. M C CREEKY, 




[IIOMx\S C. McCREERY is a native of Kentucky, and was 
born in 1817. He studied law, but instead of practising 
his profession, he turned his attention to the more peaceful 
pursuits of agriculture. He was a presidential elector in 1852, and in 
1858 was a member of the Board of Visitors to the military academy 
at West Point. On the resignation of James Guthrie, as Senator in 
Congress, from Kentucky in 1S68, Mr. McCreery was elected as a 
Democrat for the unexpired term ending in 1871, and took his seat 
in the Senate, February 28, 1868. He was assigned to places on the 
Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Territories. His 
first elaborate speech in the Senate was delivered May 28, 1868, 
when he spoke at great length against the bill to admit Arkansas to 
representation in Congress. The style of the speech is illustrated in 
the following passage : " The safeguards which were thrown around 
the rights of the citizen, as well as the land-marks which were 
erected to protect the different departments in the exercise of their 
delegated powers have been obliterated and destroyed ; and instead 
of the symmetry and simplicity of our old republican institutions 
the nation this day groans under the weight of a compound radical 
iniquity, which may be denominated a civil, circumspect, military, 
despotic, represented and unrepresented confederation of States, 
principalities and powers." He was the sole supporter of a resolution 
offered by his colleague, Mr. Davis, declaring that " a court of im- 
peachment cannot be legally formed, while Senators from certain 
States are excluded." December 17, 1S68, he proposed an amend- 
ment to the Constitution intended to protect the rights of minorities, 
and provide against the contingency of bringing an election for 
President and Vice-President to the House of Representatives. He 
was constantly watchful of the interests and honor of Kentucky, and 
faithful to the principles of the Democratic party. 

Ijo 



ALEXANDER M c DONALD. 



|f LEXANDER McDONALD was born in Clinton County, 
Pennsylvania, April 10, 1832, and was educated at the 
>f^T Dickiuson Seminary, and the Lewisburg University. 
After having been employed for some time as a clerk in Williams- 
port, in 1852 he commenced business on his own account at Lock 
Haven, Pennsylvania. In 1857 he emigrated with his little family 
to Kansas, and settled in what has since become the city of Fort 
Scott. His first business experiment in the West was the erection 
of a saw-mill. He pu/chased an ox team, and hauled his own stone 
and timber. He acted as fireman in his own mill, thus early in his 
western career showing the pluck and hardihood necessary to success. 
Living within four miles of the Missouri line, he was in the midst of 
the border troubles, in which he took an active part on the side of 
freedom and good government. He engaged in mercantile pursuits 
in 1859, and when the great famine prevailed, he proved himself 
a liberal benefactor of the suffering people. Neither in Fort Scott 
nor in the country immediately around was there any public aid 
asked or received, since Mr. McDonald's judicious management 
in aiding the needy and destitute, by giving them employment at 
good wages, prevented destitution and saved the self-respect of all by 
enabling them to avoid dependence upon public charity. 

The 2d Kansas Regiment was organized in May, 1861, and was 
sent into the field, on the day of its muster, without any provis- 
ion for the clothing of the men. Mr. McDonald procured the 
appointment of a friend as sutler, and himself took along a large 
outfit of clothing, from which he furnished the entire regiment with 
clothing which should have been provided by the government ; and 
he never received in return one-half the amount of his expenditure. 

Returning to Fort Scott under the special authority of Gen. Nathan- 



2 ALEXANDER McDONALD. 

iel Lyon, he raised a battalion of six companies which was subse- 
quently enlarged to a full regiment, which, as the 8th Kansas Cavalry, 
obtained honorable distinction in the war. This regiment, which was 
not properly mustered into service until after long delay, was entirely 
subsisted by Mr. McDonald for nearly a year. The men could get 
no rations from the government ; no one else would take the risk ; 
and Mr. McDonald patriotically furnished the necessary supplies. 
He also furnished clothing for which payment was repudiated by one 
entire company. He also fed and clothed the officers of the first reg- 
iment of colored troops raised in the United States, for seven months 
before they were recognized by the government. 

After the battle of Wilson's Creek, when Price led his forces on 
Fort Scott, which was defended by Gen. James H. Lane, Mr. 
McDonald, as commanding officer of an auxiliary force of militia, par- 
ticipated in all the battles in that locality, including the celebrated 
fight at Drywood, winning the respect of his men and the approval 
of his superior officers. 

Accompanying the victorious troops of Major-General James G. 
Blunt, he became one of the first Union settlers in the State of 
Arkansas after the exodus of the Confederate troops. Settling first 
at Fort Smith, he engaged again in mercantile pursuits, and soon 
established the " First National Bank of Fort Smith " of which he 
became the president. He subsequently removed to Little Rock, 
where he established the Merchant's National Bank, of which he 
was the first president. 

Upon the return of the Southern leaders at the close of the war, 
they attempted to resume their old control by embittering public 
sentiment against Northern men who had settled in the South. 
From a sense of duty to the country, and for self-protection, Mr. 
McDonald threw himself into politics with the same earnestness and 
devotion to the Union which distinguished his earlier career. He be- 
came the first signer in his locality of a call for a Republican con- 
vention. He took an active part in the ensuing struggle, and, upon 
the success which followed, he was elected as one of the United States 
Senators from Arkansas. 

// 



EDAVIX D. MOKGAH". 




DWIN DENNISON MORGAN is the sevei.th of her Gov- 
ernors whom New York has honored with a seat in the 
Senate of the United States. The others were DeWitt 
Clinton, Yan Buren, Marcy, Wright, Seward, and Fish. 

Mr. Morgan is a native of the town of Washington, Massachu- 
setts, where he was born on the eighth of February, 1811. He here 
enjoyed the opportunities afforded by the public schools, until the 
age of twelve years, when his father removed to Windsor, Connecti- 
cut, where he attended the high school, and subsequently was a stu- 
dent in the Bacon Academy at Colchester. In the family exodus 
to Windsor, this youth of a dozen years drove an ox team loaded 
with household effects, performing a good share of the journey, some 
fifty miles, on foot. At the age of seventeen he entered the whole- 
sale grocery and commission house of an uncle, in Hartford, as clerk. 
Anecdotes illustrative of his mature judgment and penetration are 
extant, qualities which early commanded his relative's attention, and, 
at the end of three years, procured for him admission to a partner- 
ship. He remained here engaged in mercantile pursuits until his 
removal to the city of New York, whither, in 1836, he went with a 
view to larger business opportunities. The period for such a change 
was perhaps fortunately chosen, for the financial crisis of 1 837, which 
occurred a few months after his advent there, afforded, to a practical 
observer like himself, valuable lessons in the ethics of trade. At all 
events, his commercial house, since so successful, was established 
about this time on a sound and permanent basis. Enterprise, resolu- 
tion, and honorable dealing, marked its course, and soon acquired for 



2 EDWIN D. MORGAN. 

Mr. Morgan a leading place among those engaged in pursuits like 
his own. 

"While vigilant in business, he was not unmindful of the claims 
implied in the right of citizenship, and from 184:0 to the close of the 
canvass that resulted in the overwhelming defeat of General Scott, 
he labored assiduously in the Whig ranks, though realizing that the 
non-election ' of Mr. Clay, to whom he was devoted, destroyed the 
prestige of his party. He acted as Yice-President of the Republi- 
can National Convention held at Pittsburg, in 1856, and wa3 there 
made Chairman of the National Committee. In that capacity he 
opened the Convention at Philadelphia, in 1856, that nominated Fre- 
mont, that at Chicago, in 1S60, which nominated Lincoln, and also 
that of 1864:, at Baltimore, which re-nominated Mr. Lincoln. In 
1866, he was made Chairman of the Union Congressional Committee? 

In 184:9, he w r as elected to the Board of Assistant Aldermen in New 
York, of which he was chosen President. A few weeks after taking 
his seat in the latter body, the Asiatic Cholera broke out, and owing 
to the unfavorable sanitary condition of the city, it spread so rapidly 
as to create great alarm. Mr. Morgan was placed upon the Sanitary 
Committee, and so imminent appeared the danger from this pesti- 
lenee that his whole time was devoted to the details of the position. 
Hospitals were to be improvised, the sale of food to be regulated, 
streets, yards, and places to be cleansed — indeed, many and pressing 
were the thankless duties incident to a critical moment like this, in a 
great city whose population is drawn from all quarters of the world. 
The efforts of the Board were attended with signal success, and in the 
fall of that year the Whig electors of the Sixth Senatorial District 
indicated their sense of his services by giving him a seat in the State 
Senate, and re-electing him two years afterward. In the Senate he 
was placed at the head of the Standing Committee on Finance, 
where he remained through his term. At the Session of 1S51 he 
was made President 2 jro tempore of that body, serving also in the 
same capacity at the extra meeting of that summer; and although 
the Democratic party had gained control of the Senate in 1 s .">2, he 



EDWIN D. MORGAN. 3 

was unanimously chosen again as its temporary President, and also 
for the fourth time in 1853. 

In 1855, he was appointed a Commissioner of Emigration, which 
place was held until 1858, when he was elected Governor. To the 
latter office, before the end of his term, two years afterward, he was 
re-elected by the largest majority ever given to a governor in the 
State of New York. Important duties lay in the four years he was 
destined to fill the gubernatorial chair; and as events proved, he pos- 
sessed rare qualifications for their performance. A knowledge of 
men, a high standing in the commercial community, a thorough 
business training, and practical knowledge of the complex finances 
of the State, coupled with clear and enlightened views on questions 
falling within the scope of his functions, and freedom from petty pre- 
judices, blended happily in the new Governor. lie had need of all 
these advantages, as also of his tireless industry, equable temper, and 
robii-t physique. His first term, though marked with vigor and the 
initiation of important reforms, was preparatory to the second, whose 
duties in extent and importance no other Governor of the State has 
been called upon to perform. 

On entering office, he found the State's high credit threatened, the 
public works still unfinished, though millions had been expended for 
their completion. 

Popular expectation, disappointed often, and wearied at length 
by the languid progress of the enlargement, was giving way to a 
disposition, adroitly fostered, to sell the canals, thereby to create 
a great and controlling monopoly, most baneful in its character. 
The militia, as an organization, had by degrees, through years of 
peace, quite lost its efficiency, and the condition of the military prop- 
city and arsenal supplies was sorry enough. 1 1 i- first message to the 
Legislature, like all his others, shows a clear and searching insight 
into the condition of the State in fog varied interests. These papers 
are eminently clear and frank, and arc wanting neither in force of 
diction nor soundness of doctrine. In his first communication to 
the Legislature occurs this sentence : "Upright intentions, a heart 



4 EDWIN D. MORGAN. 

devoted to the interests of the commonwealth, and unceasing appli- 
cation, are all the pledges I oan give for the faithful execution of the 
trusts delegated to me by the people of New York." 

PleoVe was never better kept, and he proceeded at once to make 
it good. The Canal finances received the first attention. The Canal 
revenues had fallen largely below the constitutional claims upon 
them, owing, in part, to an immense reduction in tolls, but most of 
all to a lax system of expenditure by the use of drafts upon the 
treasury, anticipatory of appropriations, to the extent of millions of 
dollars, in express defiance of the laws and the Constitution. This 
illegitimate paper was hawked in the markets, where it was known 
as " floating debt," a new form of obligation to New York's ledger 
of State indebtedness. It was daily growing in volume, and was 
prejudicing other forms of the State's credit. The proceeds were 
being used, it is true, though not with economy, in completing the 
Canals. He did not hesitate to present the whole subject to the Leg- 
islature, and to recommend early provision for its liquidation. " The 
people, thereby;" said he, " are placed in the dilemma of paying an 
unauthorized debt, or seemingly incurring the stain of repudia- 
tion;" and while protesting against the whole system, adds, " but 
under no circumstances will the State of New York ever refuse to 
acknowledge and pay every and all just claims existing against her, 
or that have been contracted by any of her recognized agents." The 
question was submitted to a vote of the people, who legalized the 
debt, though by a majority so limited as to afford wholesome warn- 
ing to any who might hereafter be tempted to repeat so evil a prac- 
tice. As respected the current management of the Canals, he urged 
that the tolls be largely increased, and the cost of maintenance be 
essentially Lessened. Both recommendations were adopted with most 
satisfactory results. He took decided ground against the sale of the 
Canals, and, with characteristic energy, urged their completion. 
Before retiring from the Executive office he had the satisfaction 
of announcing the ('anal enlargement as tally effected. 
The inadequate defenses of the harbor of New York were eariy 



EDWIN D. MORGAN. 5 

adverted to by him with earnestness, and the series of labors per- 
formed by him in this connection, and also in conjunction with 
others, afford honorable example of public economy and practical 
wisdom. In response to an inquiry from the Inspector-General of 
the Army, he says, in December, 1867: 

" You ask what steps were taken by me, as Governor of New 
York, in response to Mr. Seward's circular letter of October, 1861, 
upon the subject of perfecting harbor and coast defenses, and the 
amount of expense incurred by the State for that purpose. Immedi- 
ately on the reception of Mr. Seward's letter, I proceeded to ascer- 
tain what mode of defense would be the most judicious to adopt, 
with a view to making temporary provision therefor. I had called 
the attention of the Legislature to the inadequate defenses of the 
harbor of New York in January, 1860, and, in view of dangers not 
necessary here to detail, the subject had not been lost sight of. 
Hence, I was the more ready to co-operate with the General Govern- 
ment in providing for the safety of the lake and sea-ports of the 
State, when the letter reached me to which you have called my atten- 
tion. 

" To the Legislature, on its assembling, I referred the whole subject, 
with the recommendation that, in default of prompt action on the 
part of the national authorities, it was the duty of the State to pro- 
ceed without delay with such portions of the defense as prudence 
should dictate. 

" Under apprehensions of hostilities growing out of the Trent 
affair, 1 had, in December, 1861, purchased a large quantity of timber 
for floating obstructions, at an aggregate cost of about s>< >,< " " '. for use, 
if need be, in the form of cribs or rafts, connected by chain cables, to 
be anchored at the Narrows. The plan for its use, an eminently 
feasible one, had been carefully matured. When no longer necessary, 
the timber was sold, without loss to the State treasury. 

•• \',, expense was therefore incurred, either in 1 S *'>1 or L862, for 
the specific object of yonr inquiry. But early in lS(',. -> ,, the defense- 
Less condition of the barb >r of New Fork was again the occasion ofj 



Q EDWIN D. MORGAN. 

disquietude, because of the unfavorable aspect of this country's rela- 
tions with the two principal naval forces of Europe, and the liability 
to ravages of privateers. Accordingly, the Legislature appropriated 
$1,000,000 for the purchase of cannon, sub-marine batteries, and 
iron-clad steamers, and for providing such other means to protect the 
harbors and frontiers of the State as were deemed necessary by the 
commissioners named in the act, Governor Seymour, Lucius Robinson, 
comptroller, and m3 T self. 

" Popular apprehensions had, doubtless, magnified dangers suffi- 
ciently grave, and the commissioners lost no time in personally exam- 
ining in detail all the fortifications in the h rbor, and conferring with 
engineers thoroughly conversant with the subject. As Government 
was then rapidly placing the largest and most improved guns in the 
forts and progressing with the fortifications, there remained little to 
be done in that direction by the State authorities, whose duties could 
therefore be best performed by supplementing the labors of the Fed- 
eral agents. And after due consultation with the Federal officers and 
other practical engineers, whose services, with the exception of the 
engineer in charge, it is but just to say, were gratuitously rendered, 
it was concluded to again resort to floating obstructions. Plans were 
at once advertised for, and, in due time, proposals for materials in- 
vited. As a precaution, my associates formally authorized me, in case 
of an unexpected attack upon the city of New York, to take sucli 
instant measures for defense as I might deem necessary, with liberty 
to use the whole appropriation, if required, for that purpose. 

" When the bids were opened it was found that the enhanced price 
of timber and iron would so increase the cost of the proposed work 
as to render a further appropriation necessary, and, as meantime the 
relations of our country with certain foreign governments had 
become more pacific, it was decided to defer action until the regular 
meeting of the Legislature. Practically, however, the means for pro- 
viding a defense were at all times within reach. Timber in suffi- 
cient quantities and suitable iron cables were at command in case of 
emergency, ami a- the plans for the use of these were well under- 



EDWIN D. MORGAN. 7 

stood by a competent board of engineer officers who could be speedily 
convened, it was deemed unnecessary to urge further action. It only 
remains to be stated that of the appropriation but $5,000 were used ; 
the balance of the million remains untouched in the State treasury." 

The subject of executive pardons received more than ordinary con- 
sideration from him, and considered in proportion to the applications 
presented, he granted fewer pardons than any of his predecessors. 
The matter of special legislation and the want of specific accounta- 
bility for appropriations to charitable objects engaged particular atten- 
tion. 

In common with close observers, he from the first held as serious 
the threats of secession that followed the election of Mr. Lincoln, but 
lent his influence to calm the popular mind, and to remove, so far as 
was consistent with principle, any pretext for the course finally pur- 
sued by the South. But the attack on Sumter ended all disposition 
on his part to placate that section. " This gratuitous violence, and 
this deliberate insult to the flag, conclusively proves to all," said he, 
" that it is the design of the leaders to break up the Government." 
Thenceforward, day by day, he bent every energy to the work of 
putting down the rebellion. No other State was looked to fur so 
many men and so much money as New York. Her quota was 
about one-fifth part of all the troops called for. The Legislature 
was about to adjourn when the news from Charleston harbor reached 
Albany. A few earnest words served to present his views to the 
two Houses. In forty-eight hours they had appropriated three 
millions and a half in money for war purposes, and authorized the 
raising of 30,000 volunteers. With the aid of the State Military 
Board this number was soon enrolled and fully organized, and, by 
the third week in May, was hurried into the field, whither nine regi- 
ments of State militia, serving as minute men, had preceded them. 
So extensive had been the preparations of the rebels, as to leave it 
obvious that a single campaign would not end the struggle of the in- 
surgents. Hence, Governor Morgan was averse to refusing \< »1 imteers 
after the State's quota was filled ; and when the battle of Bull Run oc- 



g EDWIN D. MORGAN. 

curred, lie was in Washington seeking authority to establish camps of 
instruction at two or three points in the State, with a view to greater 
efficiency « >f recruits, and to keep aglow the spirit of enlistment. Fol- 
lowing the first great rebuff to Union arms, came the President's call 
upon New York for 25,000 men, and this demand was so far increased 
that on the first of January the State had raised 120,600 troops. On 
that day he was able to assert that " no requisition had been made 
by the Government that remained unhonored." 

The city of New York was a common rendezvous for the several 
States ; and many independent regiments were there forming, thereby 
impeding the State authorities. In view of these facts, and to 
secure other practical advantages, at the same time to express his 
sense of the important services rendered by Governor Morgan, the 
President, in September, 1861, appointed nim a Major-General of 
Volunteers, and created the State into a military department nnddt 
his command. It is proper to add that he declined any emolument 
for this duty of sixteen months. 

Succeeding the ardent spirit of volunteering of the earlier months 
of the war, came a period when the disposition wholly ceased. The 
tardy movements of the eastern army and the unsuccessful series of 
battles of midsummer of that year had done the work. But the dis- 
aster that culminated at Malvern Hill, rendered a call indispensible, 
to be quickly followed by a second requisition of equal extent. 

The quota of New York under the two was 120,000 men. 
Prompt action was vital, and a special incentive to secure the new 
levies became necessary. The public clamored for an extra session 
of the Legislature to authorize a bounty. But this involved the delay 
of days, possibly of weeks, when time was so precious. It was clear 
that the people of the commonwealth favored a bounty, and Gov- 
ernor Morgan did not hesitate to assume the responsibility of offering 
one. Accordingly he announced that the State would give $50 to 
each man enlisting for three years. The stimulus proved sufficient, 
and volunteering at once began again in earnest. A class of volun- 
teers inferior to none who had ever taken up arms, were brought into 



EDWIN D. MORGAN. 9 

the service. The aggregate sum expended for this object was about 
$3,500,000, which the Legislature at its next session, acting on the 
recommendation of Governor Seymour, lost no time in legalizing. 
The mode employed in this emergency, that of raising local regi- 
ments by committees of leading citizens for their respective Senate 
districts,proved to be wisely chosen. In a few days a regiment was 
ready for the field, and they followed each other with steady pace, 
at the rate of one a day until the great quotas were filled. Several 
of these regiments were equipped with arms purchased by the Gov- 
ernor, and most of them were uniformed and otherwise supplied from 
his purchases. They reached the field in time to take part in the 
battle of Antietam, inspiriting by their presence the hearts of the 
veterans whose rapid marches northward had prevented communica- 
tion with friends, and who were needing such a stimulus. By the end 
of his term he had sent no less than 320,000 men into the field, 
being more than a fifth part of all that had yet entered the service. 
In addition to these, the State militia regiments were on three sev- 
eral occasions dispatched to Washington, to answer emergencies. 
The thanks of the President and the Secretary of War were fre- 
quently tendered Governor Morgan, for his promptness and efficiency 
in responding to their demands, and the extent of the aid that as 
executive of New York he was enabled to render. When he left the 
office, New York stood credited with an excess over all quotas. 

Contracts for rations, clothing, arms and ordnance, to the extent 
of many million dollars, had been made by him in behalf of the 
General Government, in addition to what had been purchased for 
the State. All these business transactions have received the approval 
of the Federal authorities. 

There were, during his latter term, causes of grave uneasiness to 

which the public gave no particular heed, but which occasioned him 

no little anxiety. The disorderly element in the city of New York, 

stimulated by persons not unfriendly to the South, and which a few 

months after his retirement originated the riot there, was watched 

by him with unceasing care. The rebel element in Canada, too, and 

9 



10 EDWIN D. MORGAN. 

the threatening aspect of the relations of this country with Great 
Britain in the earlier part of the war, made necessary, considering 
the proximity of the State to Canada and its extended and exposed 
frontier, a provision for prompt defense or retaliation; and in the 
winter of 1862, a plan was matured, the execution of which he 
would have intrusted to General Wadsworth, with the latter's ap- 
proval, to secure the State from hostile dangers in that quarter. 
The subsequent raid at St. Albans and elsewhere along the northern 
borders, was but a feeble indication of what might have been in the 
•earlier stages of the rebellion. , 

In February, 1S62, he was elected to the Senate of the United 
: States for the term of six years, to succeed Preston King. He took 
his seat at the called session of March of that year, and has served 
on the Committees on Commerce, Finance, the Pacific Railroad, as 
Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, on Manufactures, 
Military Affairs, Mines and Mining, and on Printing. 

In February, 1865, on the retirement of Mr. Fessenden, he was 
•asked by Mr. Lincoln to accept the position of Secretary of the 
Treasury. This he declined; but not disposed to forego the ad- 
vantages which he believed Mr. Morgan's presence in the Cabinet 
at the head of the Finances would bring, the President, disregarding 
his expressed wishes, nominated him without his knowledge, and it 
was only after earnest objections on his part that Mr. Lincoln con- 
sented to withdraw his name and leave him in the Senate. 

At its commencement, in July, 1867, Williams College, which is 
located in his native county of Berkshire, Massachusetts, conferred 
upon him the Degree of Doctor of Laws. 






f>L 3 



JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 




L T STIN S, MORRILL was born in Strafford, Vermont, 
April 14, 1810. At fifteen years of age he was taken from 
an academy, where he was making rapid proficiency in study, 
and was placed in a country store. From that time he did not enjoy 
another day's schooling, though he has been a hard student all his 
life. After a year's experience as a merchant's clerk in his native 
village, having received for his services on\y $25, he went to Port- 
land and was employed in an extensive dry goods establishment. 
All the money that could be saved from his meagre salary was spent 
for books, which were studied with great avidity at such hours as were 
not occupied in his regular labors. By thus improving his time he 
pursued a considerable course of classical studies, and read " Black- 
stone's Commentaries," but with no intention of becoming a lawyer. 
After three years spent in Portland, he returned to his native town, 
and formed a partnership in mercantile business with Judge Harris. 
Mr. Morrill continued in this business until 1848, when he turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits. 

In 1854, he was elected a Representative from Vermont in the 
Thirty-fourth Congress, and remained a member of the House by 
re-elections for twelve continuous years. He was a member of the 
Committees on Agriculture, and Ways and Means. Of the latter 
committee, during the Thirty-ninth Congress, he held the important 
position of chairman, thus becoming what is technically styled 
" Leader of the House." 

He introduced a bill granting lands to agricultural colleges, which 
was passed by Congress, but was vetoed by President Buchanan. 
A similar bill, which finally became a law, was ably advocated by 
Mr. Morrill in a speech delivered June 6, 1862. In 1856, he opposed 

/ 7 3 



2 JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

the admission of Kansas on the terms then proposed. Subsequently, 
as a member of a select committee of fifteen appointed to investigate 
matters in relation to Kansas, he prepared and presented a minority- 
report against the Lecompton constitution. 

His first speech on the tariff question was delivered in the House, 
Feb. 6, 1857, against a bill reported by Mr. Campbell of Ohio, the 
main grounds of Mr. Morrill's opposition being that it was too much 
in the interest of manufactures, and adverse to agriculture. The 
" Morrill Tariff" was introduced and explained by him in an elabo- 
rate speech, April 23, 1860. This tariff, which became a law in 
1861, effected a change from ad valorem to specific duties on a large 
number of articles. Increasing the duties on wool and some other 
agricultural products, it added many articles to the free list. 

February 4, 1862, Mr. Morrill made a speech maintaining the im- 
policy of making paper a legal tender, since this would lead to infla- 
tion, and make great difficulty in the return to specie payments. 
He proposed a system of issuing exchequer bills, which, if adopted, 
would have tended to prevent the great depreciation of the currency 
which ultimately occurred. 

March 12, 1862, he made a speech explanatory of the Internal 
Tax Bill, which, as chairman of the sub-committee to whom the sub- 
ject was referred, he had performed the principal labor in preparing. 
By this bill was originated the vast internal revenue system which 
has served so excellent a purpose for the country. A system of 
such varied application, and yet so simple and efficient for subserv- 
ing the necessities of a great nation, was never before devised. The 
present head of the treasury, Mr. Boutwell, after having had the 
experience of executing the law, as Commissioner of Internal Reve- 
nue, said that it was " the most perfect system ever devised by any 
nation." 

In October, 1866, he was elected a Senator in Congress from Ver- 
mont, for the term ending in 1873. In the Senate he has made 
numerous and able speeches on the various subjects relating to the 
national finances and the public debt. 







- - 






LOT M. MORRILL. 







<OT M. MORRILL was born in Belgrade, Maine, May 3, 1813. 
In 1834, at the age of twenty-one, he entered "Water ville 
College, but soon afte^ left the institution to commence the 
study of law. Five years later he was admitted to the bar, and en- 
tered upon a lucrative practice. Taking an active part in politics, 
he soon rose to prominence as a leader in the Democratic party. 
In 1854 he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature, 
and in 1856 he was elected to the State Senate, of which he was 
chosen President. 

He had never been an apologist for slavery, though acting with 
the Democrats, and when they attempted to force slavery by 
fraud and violence upon the people of Kansas, he denounced the 
scheme and severed his connection with the party. In 1857 he was 
nominated by the Republican party for Governor of the State, and 
was elected by a majority of fifteen thousand votes. He admin- 
istered the State Government to the satisfaction of the people, and 
was by them twice re-elected. In 1861 he was elected to the United 
States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Hanni- 
bal Hamlin. He took his seat on the 17th of January of that year, 
and in 1863 he was re-elected for the term ending March 4, 1869. In 
the senatorial election, for the ensuing term, the contest was very 
warm between the friends of Mr. Morrill and Mr. Hamlin. In the 
Republican caucus the latter was nominated by a majority of one 
vote, and was accordingly elected by the Legislature. 

In the Senate his record is that of a consistent Republican. A 
promoter of the Congressional plan of reconstruction, he opposed the 
"policy" of President Johnson, and voted for his conviction. 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 



lp% LIVER P. MORTON was born in Wayne County, Indiana, 
%^¥ August 4, 1823. His parents dying when he was quite 
F-f5p 3 ,oun o> h e was phiced under the cave of a grandmother and 
two aunts, in the State of Ohio. He served for a while with his 
brother at the hatter's trade ; but this not being a congenial employ- 
ment, at the age of fourteen he entered the Wayne County Seminary. 
He is described by his preceptor as " a timid and rather verdant- 
looking youth, too shy to • bear, with head erect, a master's look." 
After completing his preparatory studies, he entered Miami Univer- 
sity, at Oxford, Ohio. He displayed much talent as a student, and 
made great proficiency in his studies, and especially in forensic exer- 
cises. Leaving college without graduating, he returned to Indiana, 
and entered upon the study of law with Hon. John S. Newman. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and, as a jurist and an advocate, 
soon took rank among the first lawyers of the State. 

In 1852, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. Two years 
later, the Democratic party, of which he was a member, repealed the 
Missouri Compromise, and passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Mr. 
Morton, with many others who had been known as free-soil Demo- 
crats, abandoned his old party relations, and aided in forming the 
Republican party. 

In 1856, he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Governor of Indiana. He made a thorough and vigorous can- 
vass of the State, in company with his Democratic competitor, Ashbel 
P. Willard. A party so powerful, championed by a leader so elo- 
quent and popular, could not be overcome in a single campaign. 
Mr. Morton lost the election by about live thousand votes; but his 
spi rchcs, delivered throughout the State, did much to build up and 
consolidate the Republican party in Indiana. 






f /72 7 f^^t^ 






OLIVER P. MORTON. 2 

Anticipating the importance of the great political struggle of 1860, 
the Republicans of Indiana made an exceedingly strong ticket, with 
Henry S. Lane tor Governor, and Oliver P. Morton for Lieutenant 
Governor — both unsurpassed for eloquence and effectiveness in politi 
cal debate. The Republican State ticket was triumphantly elected 
in October, and, in November, Indiana stood in the unbroken col- 
umn of Northern States that elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
dency. 

On the 14th of January, 1SG1, Mr. Morton, entering upon the 
office of Lieutenant-Governor, took his seat as President of the State 
Senate. He occupied this position but two days, when, in conse- 
quence of the election of Henry S. Lane to the Senate of the United 
States, he became Governor of Indiana. 

Never before had a Governor of the State been inaugurated amid 
circumstances so difficult and trying. The election of Mr. Lincoln 
to the presidency was used as a pretext for rebellion, which was 
already showing its formidable front in various portions of the South. 
The State of Indiana was divided on the question of the right of 
secession. Men were heard to say in the State Legislature, that they 
would rather take their muskets and assist the Southern people to 
obtain their independence, than to support the Government. The 
Southern traitors believed that should the Administration pursue a 
coercive policy, Indiana would secede and join the Southern Con- 
federacy. To repress treason, to foster loyalty, and hold the entire 
State true to the Union, and to hurl its concentrated moral and phy- 
sical force against the rising rebellion, constituted the extraordinary 
work before the newly-inaugurated Governor. 

Convinced of the importance of prompt aetion in defence of the 
Government, he visited the President in person, and assured him that 
if he w.»uld adopt a vigorous policy, Indiana would support him. 
Soon after his visit to Washington, the bombardment of Fort 
Sumter inaugurated actual hostilities and produced the great upris- 
ing of the North. 

CTpon receiving the President's proclamation, Governor Morton 
issued calls to every part of the State for men. Forty thousand 



3 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

men, more than six times the number required, volunteered for the 
defence of the Union. In three days, six regiments, the quota of 
the State, were in readiness for service, fully armed and equipped. 
Twenty regiments were tendered in addition, and when they were 
not accepted by the Government, most of them were mustered into 
the State service, put in camp and drilled until the time came when 
the Government was glad to take them. 

No sooner were their first troops in the field than the Governor sent 
agents to look after their interests, to see that their necessities were 
supplied while in health, and that they were properly cared for when 
sick. 

To meet the extraordinary emergencies of the occasion, Governor 
Morton called an extra session of the Legislature. His message to 
this b«»dy, delivered April 25th, 1861, was a patriotic and eloquent 
presentation of the true relations of the States to the Federal Govern- 
ment, and the duty of Indiana to aid in crushing the rebellion. 

During the extra session of the General Assembly the labors of 
the Executive Department were augmented to an extent never 
before equalled in the history of the State. Great discernment and 
discretion were exercised by the Governor in the selection of men to 
aid in recruiting, organizing and equipping the regiments. He 
laid aside party prejudices, and, in dispensing favors, rather showed 
partiality to his former political foes than to his friends. Loyalty 
and capacity were the only qualifications for position which he de- 
manded, and during the early stages of the war he appeared to look 
for these in the Democratic party. 

The doubtful attitude of the State of Kentucky gave additional 
anxiety and labor to the Governor of Indiana. Governor Magoffin, 
at heart a secessionist, had refused most positively to respond to the 
President's call for volunteers. While making professions of a desire 
to hold Kentucky in a neutral position, he was really rendering the 
rebels all the aid in his power. He artfully laid his plans to induce 
Indiana, < >hio, and other Northern border States, to assume the char- 
acter ,,t' sovereign mediators between the Government and the 
seceded States. To his overtures Governor Morton promptly re- 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 4 

Bponded, " There is no ground in the Constitution, midway between 
the Government and a rebellious State, upon which another State 
can stand, holding both in cheek. A State must take her stand 
upon one side or the other; and I invoke the State of Kentucky, by 
all the sacred tics that bind us together, to take her stand with Indi- 
ana, promptly and efficiently, on the side of the Union." 

From this time until the close of Magoffin's administration. Gov- 
ernor Morton -was practically the governor of Kentucky. lie dis- 
patched numerous secret agents to watch the movements of Ken- 
tucky secessionists. Thus he was constantly advised in reference to 
the traitorous designs of Kentucky rebels and their Confederate 
allies. In view of the defenceless condition of the Indiana and Ohio 
border, he urged upon the President and the War Department the 
importance of gunboats and fortifications along the Ohio river. 

From the beginning of the difficulties in Kentucky he unremit- 
tingly pressed upon the attention of the Government the necessity 
of taking decided steps toward the occupation of the State by the 
I'nited States forces. 

On the 16th of September, 1861, Governor Morton learned, through 
one of his secret agents, that the rebel General Zollicoffer had 
marched his brigade through Cumberland Gap, into Kentucky. On 
the same day General Buckner, who had for some time been sta- 
tioned at Bowling Green in command of a body of "neutral State 
Guards,'' set out with his men for Louisville. General Rousseau had 
organized a brigade at Jeffersonville, Indiana, but out of respect for 
Kentucky's neutrality was ordered to St. Louis. Governor Morton, 
having been apprised of the movements of Zollicoffer and Buckner, 
had Genera] Rousseau's marching orders countermanded. He was 
ordered to cross the Ohio into Kentucky; thus Louisville was saved 
from falling into the hands of the rebels, and the fata! charm of neu- 
trality was broken. 

Governor Morton withdrew his secret agents and appealed to 

the people of Indiana to render all possible aid in rescuing Ken- 
tucky from the hands of the secessionists. Many regiments 
responded to the call, and ere the lapse of many months Bowling 



5 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

Green, a strongly fortified position, was occupied by a Federal force 
Zollicoffer was defeated and slain at Mill-spring, and the soil of 
Kentucky cleared of rebel troops. 

The important agency of Governor Morton in bringing about 
these results was universally acknowledged. The "Louisville Jour- 
nal" said of him, " lie has been, emphatically, Kentucky's guardian 
spirit from the very commencement of the dangers that now darkly 
threaten her very existence. Kentucky and the whole country owe 
him a large debt of gratitude. Oh, that all the public functionaries 
of the country were as vigilant, as clear-sighted, as energetic, as 
fearless, as chivalric, as he.'' 

The wants of Indiana troops in Missouri, West Virginia, and 
the Department of the Potomac, received his constant attention, and 
his numerous efficient agents were actively employed in every camp 
where Indiana regiments were stationed. 

The reverses of the national arms had such a discouraging effect 
upon the country, that in most of the States the work of recruiting 
progressed slowly. Not so in Indiana. The faithfulness of Gov 
enor Morton in looking after his soldiers, and providing for theii 
families at home, inspired the people of Indiana with such a degree 
of confidence that tie volunteering spirit among them did not abate_ 
because of national disasters, and by the 11th of December, 1861, an 
aersrreerate of fortv-fonr volunteer regiments from Indiana were in 
the service of the United States. 

The approach of the first winter of the war seemed likely to find 
large numbers of our troops almost destitute of comfortable clothing, 
owing to the misappropriation of supplies, by incompetent and un- 
principled quartermasters. Governor Morton sought to remedy this 
deficiency, so far as the Indiana troops were concerned, by taking the 
matter of supplying them with clothing into his own hands. Not- 
withstanding the obstructions thrown in his way, and the insults 
offered him by thieving officials, by indefatigable energy, he carried 
his points, and had the satisfaction of being assured by his messen- 
gers that his soldiers would not Buffer from lack of clothing amid the 
rigors of winter in the mountains of Western Virginia. 

30 



1 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 6 

Governor Morton's popularity among the soldiers, and his reputa- 
tion in other States, having excited the jealousy of certain ambitious 
politicians, they gave currency to vague charges of mismanagement 
in State military matters, of corruption in the appointment of officers, 
and the awarding of contracts. In compliance with Governor Mor- 
ton's urgent request, a Congressional Investigating Committee visited 
Indianapolis, and made rigid inquiry into the management of mili- 
itary matters in Indiana. The published report of the proceedings 
of this committee not only exonerates him from all blame, but shows 
the greatest care on his part to prevent fraud and peculation. It 
was stated by this committee that, notwithstanding the Indiana troops 
had been better armed and equipped than those of any other west- 
ern State, the expense attending their outfit was less, in proportion to 
the number of men furnished, than that of any other State in the 
Union. 

Governor Morton steadily rose in the estimation of the President 
and the Cabinet, until his influence became greater in Washington 
than that of any other man in the country outside the Executive De- 
partments. Many times was his presence requested in Washington, 
and his counsel solicited in matters of the greatest moment to the 
Government. 

Before the close of the year 18G2, more than one hundred thou- 
sand men had enlisted from Indiana in the service of the United 
States. Most of these being Kepublicans, their absence greatly de- 
pleted the strength of the party at home. Mismanagement of officers 
and reverses in the field had cooled the ardor of many who had been 
supporters of the war. These causes operated to produce a defeat 
of the Republican party in Indiana in the autumn of 1862, and the 
election of Democratic State officers, and a majority of the Legis- 
lature. Fortunately for the State, Governor Morton held over, hav- 
ing been elected for a term of four years. He stood as the sole ob- 
stacle in the path of reckless men who desired to drag the State into 
alliance with the rebels. 

The Governor transmitted to the Legislature a message in which lie- 
accurately set forth the condition of the State, and with calmness 

/3/ 



7 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

and dignity made such suggestions as were appropriate to the emer- 
gencies of the State and Nation. The Legislature insultingly refused 
to accept this message, and by a joint resolution complimented, and 
virtually adopted, the message of Governor Seymour of ISew York. 

The Democratic majority in caucus drew up a bill designed to 
take all the military power of the State away from the Governor, 
and place it in the hands of four Democratic State officers. This bill 
was engrossed and only prevented from becoming a law by the with- 
drawal «>f the Republican members, leaving the Legislature without 
a quorum. When the Legislature was thus broken up, no appropria- 
tions had been made to defray the expenses of the State government 
for tlif next two years, and Governor Morton must either call the 
Legislature back at the risk of having the State involved in civil war, 
or borrow the money to carry on the State government. He deter- 
mined to take the latter course, and succeeded in raising nearly two 
million dollars, with which he paid the expenses of the State gov- 
ernment and the interest on the State debt. The money Mas bor- 
rowed from loyal counties in the State, from railroad companies, 
banks, private persons, and from the house of Winslow, Lanier & 
Co., in Xew York. During these two years he acted as Auditor 
and Treasurer of State, kept the accounts in his own office, and dis- 
bursed the money upon his own checks. The next Legislature ex- 
amined bis accounts, and adopted them without the slightest excep- 
tion, paid up all his borrowed money, and thus relieved him of the 
greal responsibilities he had incurred. 

The most persistent and dangerous opposition to Governor Mor- 
ton's administration was a secret association, popularly known as 
" Knights of the Golden Circle." It had a lodgement in every sec- 
tion of the State, but became most numerous in those places where the 
people, not having frequent access to the mediums of public intelli- 
gence, became readily the dupes of designing men. The ultimate ex- 
posure of this organization showed that it numbered over 80,000 men, 
bound together by the most solemn oaths, thoroughly drilled and 
ready to obey the call of their masters at any time. 

It was the plan and purpose of the conspirators to rise and seize 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 8 

the government arsenals, release rebel prisoners at various points in 
the North, furnish them with arms, and after assassinating State and 
United States officers, to take forcible possession of the government. 

To ferret out and defeat the schemes of these conspirators was a 
work of no ordinary magnitude, but it was fully accomplished. 
The Governor employed secret detectives, through whose activity and 
tact he obtained an inside view of almost every lodge within the State. 
He was fully informed of all their plans, their financial resources, and 
their strength. Large quantities of arms, consigned to the conspira- 
tors, were seized and confiscated. Several of the chiefs of the con- 
spiracy were arraigned, tried, convicted of treason and punished. 
The opportune discovery and exposure of this plot prevented a ter- 
rible outbreak and massacre on the soil of Indiana, and rescued the 
State from infamy and ruin. 

In the fall of 1864, Governor Morton was re-elected by a majority 
of 22,000 votes. He continued with energy and ardor to prosecute 
the work which for four years had occupied his time and attention. 
He continued to raise soldiers, by volunteering and by draft, until 
the last call was more than met. 

He passed the last year of the war in unceasing activity. At 
Washington, in council with the President ; at the front, beholding the 
brave achievements of his soldiers, moving in person through the hos- 
pitals to ascertain the wants of the sick and wounded, and directing the 
operations of his numerous agents; at home, superintending sanitary 
movements, appointing extra surgeons and sending them to the field, 
projecting additional measures for the relief of dependent women and 
children, and attending personally to all the details of the business of 
his office — his labors were unsurpassed by those of any man in the 
civil or military service of the country. 

The sudden collapse of the rebellion, and the return of the surviv- 
ing heroes of the war, varied, but did not diminish, the labors of the 
Governor of Indiana. He made the amplest arrangements for the 
reception and entertainment of the Indiana volunteers at the State 
capital. Every regiment was received and welcomed by him in 
person. He gave special attention to the pay department, and saw 



9 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

that no unnecessary delay detained the veterans from their homes 
and families. 

Finally, the war being ended, and the soldiers dismissed to their 
homes, the lung excitement ended, and the day of relaxation came. 
For five years his powers of mind and body were taxed to the ut- 
most. The immense weight of his official responsibilities, the em- 
barrassments which beset him, the gigantic difficulties he had over- 
come, had, apparently, made no inroads upon his frame. The cessa- 
tion of labor and excitement developed the evil results of over-work. 
In the summer of 1865 he was attacked with partial paralysis. The 
efforts of physicians to afford relief were fruitless, and a change of 
scene and climate was advised as the only means of obtaining relief. 
Accordingly, he devolved his official duties upon the Lieutenant 
Governor, and sailed for Europe. After an absence of several months 
he returned, partially relieved, and resumed his official duties. 
I In January, 1867, he was elected to the United States Senate, and 
resigning the Governorship, he took his seat on the 4th of March, for 
the term ending in 1873. 

In the Senate he has not failed fully to meet the high expectations 
of the country. Though somewhat disabled by disease, he has per 
formed all the work of a Statesman and a Senator. His speeches, 
heard by crowded galleries and an attentive Senate, have fallen with 
marked effect upon the country. Though often necessitated to speak 
in a sitting posture, he retains the commanding presence and the 
impressive delivery essential to the highest success in oratory. 1 n- 
Burpa8sed in executive ability, as proved by a splendid career in an- 
other field, he has shown himself the peer of the greatest statesmen 
in legislative talent. 



DAKIEL S. NORTON. 




VNIEL S. NORTON is a native of Ohio, having been born 
at Mount Vernon, of that State, April 12, 1829. He was 
educated at Kenyon College, and afterwards served with 
the Ohio volunteers in the Mexican war. He subsequently visited 
California and Nicaragua, and having thus spent a year in travel, he 
returned to Ohio and studied and practiced law, having been admit- 
ted to the bar in 1852. 

In 1855 Mr. Norton emigrated to Minnesota, then beginning to 
attract the attention of eastern people contemplating emigration 
"Westward. Two years afterwards he was elected to the State 
Senate, of which he was a member during six years ending 186-1. 
In 1865 he was elected to the United States Senate as a Conservative, 
to succeed M. S. Wilkinson, Republican. 

On coming into the Senate, Mr. Norton was placed on the Com- 
mittee on Patents, and the Committee on Territories. He addressed 
the Senate several times in opposition to the Suffrage Amendment, 
asserting that it was " urged singly, solely, and simply by party for 
party purposes." In a speech against the bill to strengthen the 
public credit he said, " If there was any interest in this country that 
was especially interested in the successful prosecution of the war and 
the suppression of the rebellion it was the capital of the country. 
If there was any class of men who ought to feel more interest in the 
stake than another it was the capitalists of the country. If it had 
been possible the Government should have compelled the money of 
the country to contribute its share and its proportion of the burdens 
of the war, just as it compelled the laboring classes to contribute 
their serviees and their lives in its defense." In a speech on the civil 
Appropriation bill he presented an earnest plea for suitable compen- 
sation to certain Sisters of Mercy who had labored in the South for 
the comfort of sick, wounded, and disabled soldiers. 



JAMES W. NYE. 




HE son of one of the substantial fanners who have given to 
the Empire State its rapid development and great pros- 
perity, James W. Nye was born in De Ruyter, Madison 
County, New York, June 10, 1815. The labors of the farm, to 
which he was inured in boyhood, developed great physical strength 
and power of endurance. As a youth he enjoyed the advantages of 
superior schools, in which he laid the foundation of a good education 
and manifested remarkable ability as a speaker. He studied law and 
practiced in his native comity, and afterward in New York City. 
He entered actively into political life, and soon became conspicuous for 
his eloquence, fearlessness, and thorough mastery of all political sub- 
jects. He was identified with the Free-Soil movement from the 
beginning, and on the organization of the Republican party he became 
one of its members, and eloquently advocated the election of Fremont 
in 1S5G. In 1SG0 he was a Police Commissioner for the city of New 
York, under the Metropolitan Police Act. In the campaign which 
ended in the election of Mr. Lincoln, in 18G0, Mr. Nye was one of 
the most efficient workers, by his convincing logic and moving 
eloquence winning multitudes to the support of the Republican 
candidates. 

Though never actively engaged as a soldier, Mr. Nye has fre- 
quently shown his interest in the military movements of the country. 
He was a General of the New York State Militia, and raised a 
regiment for service in the war with Mexico. He would have 
devoted himself to military service in the war for the suppression of 
the Rebellion, but the President believed that he could better 
promote the interests of the nation as Governor of the new Territory 
of Nevada, which needed the moulding and guiding influences of 







jr. 



(Zu^iJ 







JAMES W. NYE. 2 

eucli a man, and he was accordingly appointed to that position in 
1861. When Nevada was admitted into the Union as a State he 
was elected United States Senator, and took his seat in 1865. Two 
years later he was re-elected for the term ending in 1873. 

In the Senate he immediately took rank among the most fearless 
and able of the Radical Republicans. Entering Congress just at the 
close of the war, he aided in carrying all the great measures of 
re-construction. He opposed the policy of President Johnson, and 
voted for his conviction. Serving at first as Chairman of the 
Committee on Revolutionary Claims, he was afterward advanced to 
the more important position of Chairman of the Committee on 
Territories. 

As a speaker, Mr. Nye is graceful, fluent, and sometimes eloquent. 

His trenchant logic and luminous facts command the respectful 

attention of the Senate, while his pungent satire, ready repartee and 

keen wit delight the popular audience in the galleries. 

10 



/3 






THOMAS W. OSBORN". 




JHOM AS WARD OSBOKN" was born at Scotch Plains, New 
Jersey, March 9, 1833. His grandfather, John B. Osborn, 
served in the Revolution as a major and quartermaster ; and 
his grandmother, a sister of Ezra Darby, member of Congress from 
1804 to 1808, has passed into history as one of the " Heroic Women 
of the Revolution." His parents removed to New York in 1812, and 
settled in Jefferson County, where his youth was passed in labor on 
the farm, with only the advantages of the district school for the 
months of each winter until 1851. He subsequently prepared for 
college at the Governeur Seminary, and in 1857 entered Madison 
University, where he graduated with the class of 1S60. 

Soon after, he entered the law office of Messrs. Starbuck & Sawyer, 
in Watertown, New York, and exerted himself with energy to prepare 
for admission to the bar. Immediately after the defeat at Bull Run, 
in i861, he raised a company which, as Battery a D," was attached to 
the 1st Regiment of New York Artillery. Mr. Osborn at his own 
request was made first lieutenant, but in a few weeks received the 
commission of captain, and assumed command of the battery. In the 
following October, he returned to Syracuse, and after passing an ex- 
amination was admitted to the bar. 

His regiment having passed the winter in the Camp of Instruction 
at Washington, early in the spring of 1862 Captain Osborn, with his 
battery, joined the command of General Hooker on the lower Potomac. 
At the battle of Williamsburg in 1862, his battery being slightly in 
the rear, he took possession of the guns of Battery " 11 " First U. S. 
Artillery, from which its own men had been driven by the enemy. 
He commanded that battery throughout the entire engagement, which 
lasted all day, losing about one-third of his officers and men killed 
and wounded. He participated in all the important battles of the 

lit 







<M^^. 






THOMAS W. OSBORN. 2 

Peninsula in which General Hooker's command was engaged, besides 
being several times detached to take part in battles under other com- 
manders. Just before the battle of the Wilderness, his battery was 
complimented by General Meade in General Orders, as having par- 
ticipated in more battles (32) than any regiment or battery in the 
Army of the Potomac. An inscription to that effect was placed upon 
the flag of the battery. 

In the winter of 1862 and '63, Captain Osborn was attached to the 
staff of Major-General Berry as Chief of Artillery, and at the battle 
of Chancellorville commanded the greater part of the artillery engaged 
on the evening of the 2d and morning of the 3d of May, when the 
main part of the battle was fought. He was standing by the side of 
the gallant Berry when he fell, and was himself hit three times in as 
many minutes. 

Soon after the battle of Chancellorville, he received promotion to 
the rank of major, in his own regiment, and was at once assigned to 
duty as Chief of Artillery in the Reserve Artillery Corps of the army, 
but soon after was assigned to the same duty on the staff of General 
Howard, commanding the 11th Army Corps. 

At the battle of Gettysburg the 11th Corps was engaged early 
on the 1st day of July. The artillery of this Corps took posi- 
tion on Cemetery Hill, which it held during the ensuing battle 
lasting two days. Major Osborn placed in position his own bat- 
teries and those of the 1st Army Corps, as well as many of the 
batteries of the Reserve Corps ; and during the entire engage- 
ment he commanded them, under the most trying circumstances. 
The position he held was more commanding and more exposed than 
any other on the field. Upon it the enemy turned nearly all his 
artillery, but did not succeed in driving a single battery or gun from 
the position. The conduct of Major Osborn and his command in the 
battle of Gettysburg was highly commended. A prominent officer 
who was present wrote: "'The success of the Union Army in this 
battle may be attributed as much to the individual efforts and skill 
of Major Osborn in the disposition of the artillery corps under his 
command, and the efficient manner in which he handled it against 



3 THOMAS W. OSBORN. 

the enemy, as to the operations of any one officer participating in the 
engagement." 

Under the command of General Hooker, Major Osborn took part in 
the engagement of Lookout Valley and all the battles in that vicinity. 
At the battle of Mission Ridge he reported to General Sheridan, and 
served with him during the entire series of battles before Chattanooga. 
After the death of Major General McPherson, and the assignment 
of General Howard to the Army and Department of the Tennessee, 
Major Osborn was also transferred to that army as Chief of Artillery. 
Under his directions the artillery of the army was reorganized, and 
most of the batteries re-equipped and given an uniform armament. 
The artillery of the army was detached from the division of infantry 
of which it had previously formed a part, and brigaded under the 
Corps Commander and the Chief of Artillery. Under this compact 
and efficient organization, the artillery of the army remained until the 
general disbanding of the army at the close of the war. 

Major Osborn participated in twenty of the great battles of the 
war, and in more than fifty engagements where over ten thousand 
men were engaged. He honorably earned the rank of Colonel to 
which he was advanced. 

When General Howard was appointed Commissioner of the Bureau 
of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, he requested the as- 
lio-nment of Col. Osborn as Assistant Commissioner for the State of 
Alabama. A serious and painful accident, however, prevented his 
acceptance of the commissionership for Alabama for several weeks, 
and his assignment was changed to the State of Florida. During his 
administration of this office he was heartily supported by the com- 
manding officers of the District, Gen. John Newton, and Gen. .1. <i. 
Foster, who co-operated with him so far as their orders from the Presi- 
dent would permit. 

The colored people of the State were assisted in every way possible 
in their contracts, and protected in all their interests. The land- 
holders were induced toco-operate in the administration of the affairs 
of the Bureau, and in protecting the freed people in all the rights of 
citizenship. During the spring and summer of 1S6G the authority 

/ M 



THOMAS W. OSBORN. 4 

of this department of the Government was so limited by President 
Johnson, that little was left to the Assistant Commissioners besides 
the mere official position, nearly all their powers having been taken 
away from them. For this reason Col. Osborn requested to be mus- 
tered out of service, which was done in August, 1866. 

After leaving the army Mr. Osborn commenced the practice of law 
in the city of Tallahassee. In the following spring he was appointed 
Register in the Court of Bankruptcy. After the passage of the 
Reconstruction act in the spring of 1867 he at once took an active 
and leading part in the organization of the Republican party. He 
was elected chairman of the first Republican State Convention held 
in the State of Florida. His efforts were exerted to bring together, 
into a compact party organization, the Southern Unionists, the colored 
men, and recent immigrants from the North. In this he was so 
entirely successful that, in the election of delegates to the Constitu- 
tional Convention, but one Democrat was chosen. The constitution 
adopted by the Convention was drawn by Mr. Osborn. and was 
presented very nearly in the precise form and language in which it 
now appears. 

At the nominating convention for State officers, he was urgently 
solicited to become a candidate for governor, but declined. Under 
his general direction the party was kept united and harmonious until 
the election of State officers, and the ratification of the constitution. 
Although most strenuous exertions were made to prevent the ratifica- 
tion of the constitution and the success of the Republican candidates, 
the election was carried by about seven thousand majority. The re- 
sult of the election being decisive, the State at once became peaceful, 
and an evident desire was manifested on the part of all to acquiesce 
in the new constitution. 

At the first session of the legislature under the new constitution, 
Mr. Osborn was elected to the United States Senate by a vote of fifty- 
three, against eighteen for Hon. William Marvin. Since the admission 
of Senator Osborn, he has acted and voted with the Republican party 
on all general questions, and has been an active supporter of the 
administration of President Grant. 

/<ti 



DAYID T. PATTERSON. 




2W AVID T. PATTERSON was born in Green County, Ten- 
nessee, February 28, 1819. He received an academic edu- 
cation, and in the earlier part of his life was engaged in 
manufacturing pursuits, commencing as a paper-maker and laboring 
subsequently as a miller. He afterwards studied law, entered upon 
its practice, and settled in Greenville, where he married a daughter 
of Andrew Johnson, afterwards President of the United States. 

In 1854 Mr. Patterson was elected a judge of the circuit court, 
and was re-elected to the same office in 1862. In 1861 he was a 
member of the State Convention of Tennessee that was ordered for 
the reconstruction of the State ; and, in the same year, he was 
elected a delegate for the State at large to the Republican National 
Convention at Baltimore, by which Abraham Lincoln and Andrew 
Johnson were nominated for President and Vice-president of the 
United States ; but he was prevented from attending from the fact 
that he was engaged as a member of the Board of Visitors at West 
Point Military Academy. 

Mr. Patterson gave his vote for Mr. Lincoln at the re-election of 
the latter to the presidency of the United States ; was a member of 
the Philadelphia Convention of 1866, and in the same year was 
elected to the United States Senate. He took his seat July 26, 1866, 
and his term of service expired in March, 1869. He was a member 
of the ( 'oinmitteeon Revolutionary Claims and the Committee on the 
District of Columbia. He took no conspicuous part in legislation, 
but constantly by his votes supported the policy of the President as 
against Congress. At the close of his term in the Senate he went 
into retirement upon a farm belonging to his father-in-law, near 
Greenville, Tennessee. 



JAMES W. PATTERSON. 




'AMES W. PATTEHSON was born in Henniker, a small 
farming town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, July 
2, 1823. His father was a direct descendant of William 
Duncan and Naomi Bell, from whom originated some of the most 
superior men which New Hampshire has produced. The subject of 
this sketch was, however, born in poverty, and inured to toil and 
hardship. 

When eight years of age he went with his family to Lowell, Mass., 
where he remained until he was thirteen. In 1836, he went back 
with the family to his native town, and subsequently for two years 
worked on a farm, in winter attending the academy in Henniker 
village, two miles and a half distant. In 1S36, he returned to 
Lowell, and obtained employment in a cotton mill. The agent of 
the mill, John Aiken, Esq., a gentleman of penetration, practiced in 
reading character, soon took him from the mill into his counting 
room, where he continued two years. While in this position he was 
a leading member of a debating society, conducted at that period with 
great spirit by the young men of Lowell. It seems to have been 
largely due to the aspirations awakened by this society, that, with the 
approbation of his friend Mr. Aiken, he resigned his place in the 
counting room, for the purpose of seeking a liberal education. In 
the ensuing winter he taught a district school in his native place, and 
in the spring of 1842, went to the city of Manchester, where his 
parents then resided, and there entered with all his energies upon his- 
preparation for college. The study of a single year, with little or no 
instruction, sufficed to fit him for college. In 1841, at the age of 



2 JAMES W. PATTERSON. 

twenty one, he entered Dartmouth College, and graduated with the 
first honors of his class in 1848. Subsequently for two years he was 
in charge of an academy in Woodstock, Conn., and at the same time 
he was pursuing a course of study with a view to the profession of 
the law. But becoming an intimate friend of Henry Ward Beecher, 
who at that period was accustomed to spend his vacations in Con- 
necticut, he was induced through his influence to turn his attention 
to theology. In 1851, he entered the Theological Seminary at New 
Haven, of which the illustrious Dr. Taylor was then the leading 
spirit. In a single year he completed the prescribed studies of two, 
at the same time teaching in a ladies' seminary to pay his expenses. 

From the Theological Seminary, Mr. Patterson was called back to 
Dartmouth College as tutor ; and when the chair of Mathematics 
"became vacant by the resignation of Prof. John S. Woodman, he was 
elected to that professorship. Subsequently, on the re-organization 
of the Departments, he was assigned to the chair of Astronomy and 
Meteorology, which he filled with conspicuous ability. 

From 1858 to 1861, he was a member of the State Board of 
Education, and, as its Secretary, had the leading part of the work to 
do in preparing the Annual State Reports on Education. His duty 
as School Commissioner required him to address the people in various 
parts of the State, on the subject of Common School Education. 
The ability displayed by Mr. Patterson in these addresses, attracted 
the attention of the people, and caused them to demand his services 
in the wider fields of politics and statesmanship. 

In 1862, he was sent to the State Legislature as a Representative 
of Hanover, the seat of Dartmouth College. His reputation and 
talents at once gave him a commanding position in that body. 

In the spring of 1863, Mr. Patterson was elected a Representative 
from New Hampshire in the Thirty-eighth Congress. He was 
appointed on the Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Depart- 
ment, and on that for the District of Columbia. In 1864, he was 
appointed a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1865, he was 
re-elected to Congress, serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 



JAMES W. PATTERSON. 3 

and on a Special Committee on a Department of Education. In 
June, 1866, be was elected United States Senator for the term ending 
in 1873, and is now serving on the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
and that on the District of Columbia. 

In the popular branch of Congress, Mr. Patterson more than justi- 
fied the high expectations which his entrance into that body awakened. 
His duties as a member of the Committee on the District of Columbia 
immediately made him acquainted with leading public interests and 
the prominent business men of "Washington, and it is safe to say that 
from then till now there has been no member of either branch of ' 
Congress above him in the esteem and confidence of all classes in the 
District. His lively interest in free schools has especially won for him 
the regards of all connected with that cause in the District. To him 
belongs the honor of drafting and maturing the excellent existing 
School Law of the District, providing for the free education of all 
the children, without distinction of color, and placing the colored 
schools upon the same basis with the white schools. A crude bill 
looking to this result was presented at the time to the Senate Com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia ; but such was the deference to 
Mr. Patterson in such matters, that the bill was sent to the House 
Committee, of which he was then Chairman, with the understanding 
that he should draft a School Law covering that whole subject. 
From his first entrance into Congress, he has been recognized by the 
people of the District as the special champion of education, and has 
frequently been called upon to promote this cause by public addresses. 
At the inauguration of the Wallach School House, the first free 
Bchool edifice worthy of the cause erected in the National capital, 
July 4, 1863, Mr. Patterson delivered an address, which is one of the 
best, as well as one of the earliest of his efforts in furtherance of 
education in the District. 

Among the best specimens of Mr. Patterson's eloquence, is his 
eulogy upon the life and character of Abraham Lincoln, delivered 
at Concord, New Hampshire, June 3, 1865, at the request of the 
State authorities. This discourse delineates the wonderful character 



4 JAMES W. PATTERSON. 

of the illustrious martyr with remarkable discrimination and compre- 
hensiveness, while it often rises to the highest style of this species of 
commemorative eloquence. The following paragraph doubtless owes 
something of its terse and truthful brevity to the fact that the orator 
was enunciating the results of stern personal experience. He sayg 
of President Lincoln : 

" Poverty brought labor and habits of industry ; privations gave 
a broad experience and sympathy with those who eat bread in the 
sweat of their brows ; the irrepressible impulses of a mind conscious 
of strength, induced study and thought. These were the sources of 
that intelligence, that tender sensibility to the misfortunes and sor- 
rows of the humblest citizen, and that large executive ability which 
characterized his subsequent career." 

Perhaps the ablest, most finished, and most eloquent of all his pub- 
lished discourses is that which he pronounced on the " Responsibili- 
ties of Republics," August 29, 1865, at Fort Popham, Me., on the 
258th Anniversary of the planting of the Popham Colony. A single 
passage taken almost at random is here introduced. After a com- 
pact and philosophical statement of the fundamental ideas comprised 
in the American system, and of the process by which those ideas 
were developed into a Government, the orator adds : 

" But the end is not yet. We, too, have work to do ; fur the foun- 
dations of the republic are not yet completed. "We cannot escape 
the responsibility of those who build for posterity. The great archi- 
tects of our system reared the framework, and other generations have 
labored faithfully and successfully upon it. The star-lit flag which 
symbolizes its existence, more beautiful than the pearly gates of morn- 
ing closed with bars of crimson, has been unfurled over fleet, and 
camp, and court, but the broad substructure of this great nation can- 
not be settled firmly and compactly in its bed in a hundred years. 

"'I am a long time painting,' says an old Greek artist; 'f<>r I 
] >a i nt for a long time.' This is the laconic language of a universal 
truth. Whatever is destined long to survive, comes slowly to ma- 
turity. The primeval forests of cedar and oak, whose giant strength 



JAMES W. PATTERSON. 5 

has resisted the forces of decay through half the life-time of man, 
slowly lifted their gnarled and massive forms through centuries of 
growth. The earth's deep plating was laid, stratum above stratum, 
through the lapse of the silent, unchronicled ages ; for it was to be 
the theater of man's historic career. While the old cathedrals of 
Europe have risen slowly to their grand and solemn beauty, kings, 
their founders, have moldered back to dust within their vaults, and 
the names of their architects have perished from memory. Succeed- 
ing generations have added a tower, a stained window, or a jeweled 
altar, and lain down to rest beneath their shadow, and the work still 
lingers ; but there they stand, firm as the hills, perpetuating in his- 
tories of stone the moral life and intellectual growth of the world, 
through many of its most eventful centuries. These are but types 
of national life. 

" From the foundations of Rome, eight centuries, crowded with the 
reverses and triumphs of a heroic people, had passed into history, ere 
she became the mistress of the world. 

" The republic of Venice, too, which at first fled from Rome's insa- 
tiable lust of power, and hid herself in the islands of the sea, drop- 
ping her bridal ring into the Adriatic, while the white-haired Doge 
pronounced the ' Desponsamus te, ma/re, in signum veri perjoetuique 
dominiif wedded the waves to her sweep of power through thirteen 
hundred years of freedom." 

One of his ablest speeches in the House was that which he deliv- 
ered in 1864, on the Consular Bill, and which was recognized in 
Congress, at the State Department, and elsewhere, as an eminently 
able and exhaustive presentation upon that important subject. His 
speech on the Constitutional Amendment may also be mentioned as 
one of the best of the many able arguments made in the House at 
the time of the passage of that great measure. His services in the 
last two Presidential Campaigns have made his finished and popular 
eloquence familiar to every section of the country. On the stump 
he is perhaps surpassed by no orator in the country in the popularity 
and effectiveness of his eloquence. In all these efforts he deab 



6 JAMES W. PATTERSON. 

almost exclusively with the great philosophical principles of Gov- 
ernment and of parties, appealing to the understanding, and not to 
the passions of his audiences. 

In the Senate, Mr. Patterson has already reached a high position. 
His broad, liberal culture, the deliberative character of his eloquence, 
and his habit of grappling with subjects in their foundation prin- 
ciples, all combine to give him great influence in the Senate. He fills 
the seat vacated by Judge Daniel Clark, and it is a just and ample 
tribute to say of him that he adorns the place that for ten years was 
occupied by that able and eminent Senator. 

Mr. Patterson seems to have been exceedingly fortunate in his 
career, but his success has been the natural result of the tact that 
every public duty to which he has successively been called, has been 
executed wisely and well. From his first entrance into public life he 
has been a favorite with all classes in his State, and in Congress as 
well as at home at the present time he has the respect of all as an 
honest, able, and enlightened Statesman. 








/ ^&z<J^-^ 



SAMUEL 0. POMEKOY. 



*AMUEL C. POMEKOY was born in South Hampton, Massa- 
chusetts, January 3, 1816, and his boyhood was spent upon 
his father's farm. In 1836, he entered Amherst College ; but 
at the end of two years, leaving college, he went to reside in Monroe 
County, New York, where he continued about four years. He then 
returned to his native town of South Hampton. 

In 1840, during the time of his residence in the State of New 
York, he heard that remarkable man, Alvan Stewart, on the subject 
of slavery, was deeply impressed with his eloquence, became a ready 
convert to anti-slavery principles, and began at once to labor zealously 
to promote them. 

His first effort seemed rather discouraging. Proposing to organize 
a county liberty party, he issued a call for a meeting to be held 
at the county seat. On arriving at the place of meeting on the day 
appointed, after a ride of twenty miles in his own wagon, he found 
an audience of just two persons beside himself. After waiting an hour 
for other arrivals, and waiting in vain, nothing daunted, he called the 
meeting to order, one of the audience taking the chair, and the other 
acting as secretary. Mr. Pomeroy then delivered his speech, after 
which resolutions were presented and adopted, and a county ticket 
formed, which received at the election eleven votes in a population of 
twenty thousand. In six years afterwards, however, the liberty party 
ticket of this same county carried the election. 

Returning to South Hampton, as we have seen, in 1842, Mr. Pome- 
roy, by his zealous efforts, had the satisfaction of seeing constantly in- 
creasing members added to the new party. lie lectured in school- 



IH*) 



2 SAMUEL C. POMEROY 

houses — preached from house to house — met objections — answered al- 
ignments — softened down prejudices, and made converts everywhere. 
Year by year the work prospered, and though slow, it was sure: for 
victory, at last, crowned his efforts. Annually, for eight years, he 
was on tlic anti-slavery ticket fur the Massachusetts legislature, but 
was unsuccessful until 1852, when he was elected over botli Whigs 
and Democrats. His characteristic anti-slavery zeal he boldly carried 
with him into the legislature. On the occasion of the rendition of the 
slave Burns to his assumed owner, he gave utterence to the following 
burst of eloquence : 

" Sir," said he, addressing the Speaker, " when you have another 
man to enslave, do it as you did before, in the gray of the early morn- 
ing. Don't let in the light of the brighter day upon the scene, for the 
sun would blush, if you did not, and turn his face away to weep. 
What ! return a man to hopeless slavery ! to a condition darker than 
death, and more damning than perdition ! Death and the grave are 
not without their hope ; light from the hill-tops of immortality cross 
the darkness and bid the sleepers awake, and live, and hope ; and 
perdition with its unyielding grasp has no claims upon a man's poster- 
ity. But remorseless slavery swallows up not the man alone, but his 
hapless offspring through unending generations, for ever and for ever- 
more ! " 

About the time of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854, 
Mr. Pomeroy was in Washington, and his call upon President Pierce 
happened to be at the very hour of his signing it. It is said, in fact, 
thai the ink was not yel dry upon the parchment when Mr. Pomeroy 
addressed the President in these prophetic words : 

"Sir, this measure which has passed is not the triumph you sup- 
pose. It does not end, but only commences hostilities. Slavery is 
victorious in Congress, but it has not yet triumphed among the peo- 
ple. Your victory is but an adjournment of the question from the 
halls of Legislation at Washington to the open prairies of the freedom- 
loving West : and there. Sir, we shall beat you. depend upon it ! " 

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act at once " fired the heart" 






SAMUEL C. POMEROY. 3 

of the North. " Emigration to Kansas ! " became a sort of watchword 
far and near. Freedom-loving men and women everywhere realized, 
for the first time, how much they were individually capable of doing. 
Organized emigration was at once initiated by the genius of Eli Thayer, 
who, under a charter obtained from the Massachusetts legislature, or- 
ganized the " New England Emigrant Aid Company." In this enter- 
prise, Mr. Thayer was ably seconded by Mr. Pomeroy, who discerned 
at a glance the value and practical nature of the idea. Of this company 
he immediately became the financial and general agent, taking an 
active part in procuring and distributing all necessary information 
relating to the history, soil, climate, distance, etc., of Kansas, together 
with rents, time of passage, and expense for reaching there. More- 
over, he lectured extensively, and by word and deed stimulated all 
who could make the sacrifice to emigrate to Kansas, and offered him- 
self to be their Moses to conduct them to the promised land. 

It was on the 27th of August, 1854, that the first band of emi- 
grants, under the leadership of Mr. Pomeroy, and numbering two 
hundred, started from Boston for the far West. At various points on 
their way, they received the greetings and sympathies of warm- 
hearted and earnest men and women, like themselves, who bade them 
God-speed with many prayers, tears, and benedictions. On the 6th 
of September they came to Kansas City, Missouri, on the borders of 
the great land whither they were destined ; and passing up the Kan- 
sas Eiver, they pitched their tents at the end of three days' journey, 
and gave the name of Lawrence to the place of their sojourn. An- 
other colony soon followed, whom Mr. Pomeroy met at St. Louis, and 
conducted them forward ; and in November another still came on, 
and were likewise met and guided by him into the Territory. 
Meanwhile, Gov. Keed and other appointed officials came on to ad- 
minister the government of the new Territory, and, in behalf of the 
emigrants, were welcomed by Mr. Pomeroy in such words as these : 
" We welcome you to these rude homes of ours in the wilderness 
which we have journeyed many weary miles to make, not because wo 
look for better or for happier ones than we have left behind, but be- 

/r/ 



4 SAMUEL C. POMEROY. 

cause we intend, in good faith, to meet the issues of the hour. In 
the spirit of the act which reclaims these territories from savage 
haunts, and organizes them into homes for civilized men, we came to do 
our share in the work necessary to accomplish it. In pursuance of 
this ohject, and in imitation of those who sought liberty with the 
Mayflower^ we came bringing with us, as they did with them, the 
institutions of our faith and our freedom — our churches and our 
schools. With the Bible in one hand, and the school-book in the 
other, we propose to make this ' wilderness to bud and blossom as the 
rose.' This Bible we lay upon the altar of a free church — this primer 
upon the desk of a free school, and may the God of our Pilgrim 
Fathers aid us in the work ! " 

The limits of this sketch do not permit us to tell of the inroads of 
Southern banditti that followed this emigration — of their guns, bowie- 
knives, and whiskey — of how slavery sought eagerly to gain posses- 
sion of the fair land of Kansas — how, for this purpose, and under the 
auspices of a weak and wicked administration of the General Govern- 
ment, it promptly introduced its hideous machinery of outrages, mur- 
ders, house-breakings, and robberies. 

Amid the disturbance and violence of this stormy year of 1856, 
Mr. Pomeroy was called upon to prove his fidelity to truth, and his 
courage in maintaining principle. Beaten, arrested, and twice im- 
prisoned, threatened with death, and sentenced by a mob to be hung, 
he still escaped to complete the work yet remaining to be done. We 
find him in .Washington conferring with the prospective Governor of 
Kansas — lecturing in various places in the East in its behalf — rallying 
and shipping Sharpe's rifles — forwarding ammunition, and thus vari- 
ously preparing for the worst. But peace came soon, and L857 
opened auspiciously for the new Territory. 

Tim- far the career of Mr. Pomeroy had been that of a philan- 
thropist. His political career now commences, and it commences 
with his righteous opposition to the infamous " Lecompton Constitu- 
tion." Against this he fought day and night, and by addresses and 
public lectures, not only throughout Kansas, but the Northern States, 

($1- 



SAMUEL C. POMEROY. 5 

until in 1858 Congress sent the swindle to the " tomb of the Capu- 
lets." 

Along this period we have Mr. Pomeroy as Mayor of Atchison — 
as establishing the first free school of that town— building with his 
own private means a brick church, and presenting it to the Congre- 
gationalists — and entering heartily into plans for the relief of Kansas 
amid the terrible drought and famine of 1860. 

It was in connection with this last-named effort that the noble dis- 
interestedness of Mr. Pomeroy's character shone forth as conspicuously 
as in any other of his labors and sacrifices. Said he, at this time, to 
an intimate friend : " You know I intend to be a candidate for the 
United States Senate, and if I go into this relief business, it is cer- 
tain to kill me ; for every dollar that passes through my hands is sure 
to make an enemy of somebody. Some who don't need, will grum- 
ble because I refuse them ; others who are helped, will be dissatisfied 
because I do not give them more ; and my political enemies will 
make every mistake tell against me, whether it be mine or the fault 
of somebody else. They will lie about me in every way they can, 
and the result of the whole business will be, so far as the United 
States Senatorship is concerned, that I shall be killed as dead as Jul- 
ius Caesar. But still, if this people are in danger of suffering again, 
I mean to go in and help them anyhow, and let my political prospects 
go, and trust to God for the result ; " and Mr. Pomeroy proved by the 
result of his confidence, that " Blessed are all they that put their 
trust in him." Accordingly, after aiding most efficiently in minis- 
tering the ample relief that flowed into Kansas from ten thousand 
benevolent hands, so well satisfied with him were the people, that 
they placed him, forthwith, in the United States Senate, where he 
took his seat at the extra session, which met July 4, 1861. In 186T 
Mr. Pomeroy was re-elected for the Senatorial term ending 1873. 

It seems quite unnecessary to write that Mr. Pomeroy's entire- 
career in the Senate has been what might be expected from the ante- 
cedents of the man. The very first measure introduced by him was 
precisely characteristic, and was a " Bill to suppress the Slaveholder^ 

/S'-3 



£ SAMUEL C. POMEROY. 

Rebellion." The very wording of the title evinces the intention of 
the author, which was to place the Rebellion directly at the door of 
the guilty party. His entire Congressional record, we believe, has 
been correspondent — all his speeches and votes have been eminently 
patriotic — and the true interests of the country have ever lain neai 
liis heart. 

On the 5th of March, 1866, Mr. Pomeroy, advocating universal 
suffrage by Congressional enactment, which he maintained was 
" nothing less than throwing about all men the essential safeguards 
of the Constitution," used the following language : " Let us not take 
counsel of our fears, but of our hopes ; not of our enemies, but of our 
friends. By all the memories which cluster about the pathway in 
which we have been led ; by all the sacrifices, blood, and tears of the 
conflict ; by all the hopes of a freed country and a disenthralled race ; 
yea, as a legacy for mankind, let us now secure a free representative 
republic, based upon impartial suffrage and that human equality 
made clear in the Declaration of Independence. To this entertain- 
ment let us invite our countrymen and all nations, committing our 
work, when done, to the verdict of posterity and the blessing of 
Almighty God." 

One of Mr. Pomeroy's friends has graphically said : " True to prin- 
ciple, true to his convictions, true to his country, and terribly true to 
his country's foes, he occupies to-day, as Senator of the United States, 
a proud position among his peers — a position that honors both re- 
presentative and the represented. As a patriot, he is earnest ; as a 
statesman, logical ; as a politician, consistent ; and as a man, genial 
generous, and just." 



/r*/ 




JOHN" POOL. 



5 OHN POOL was born in Pasquotank Comity, North Caro- 
lina, June 16, 1826. He graduated at the University of 
North Carolina in 1S-17, and in the following August, having 
obtained license, commenced the practice of law in his native county. 
In 1856 he was elected to the State Senate, and re-elected in 1S58. 
In 1860 he was the regularly nominated Whig candidate for gover- 
nor of the State, in opposition to the incumbent, Governor Ellis, but 
by a reduced and very small majority he was defeated. 

Mr. Pool declined to take part in the secession movement, and 
remained in private life until 1864, when he was again elected to 
the State Senate as a peace candidate over his secession rival. At the 
ensuing session of the Legislature, he headed the peace movement, 
and introduced and defended a series of " Peace Resolutions," propos- 
ing to appoint five commissioners on the part of North Carolina to 
treat directly with the government of the United States. 

Mr. Pool was elected a member of the State Constitutional Conven- 
tion, called by the President in 1865 ; and was again elected to the 
State Senate convened under the new constitution in the same year. 
In December of that year he was elected by the Legislature to the 
Senate of the United States ; but North Carolina, under the Presi- 
dent's policy, not being allowed representation, he did not take his 
seat under that election. He was again elected in 1868, to the 
United States Senate, by the Legislature convened in pursuance of 
the Reconstruction acts of Congress, was qualified, and took his seat 
in July, for the Senatorial term ending in March, 1873. During the 
remainder of the Fortieth Congress, he participated actively in the 
business of legislation, serving on the Committees on Indian Affairs, 
Revision of the Laws and Revolutionary Claims. 

IS 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 



E LEXANDER RAMSEY, was born near Harrisburg, 
. J%L Pennsylvania, September 8, 1815. His paternal an- 
\h^|<KJ cestry were Scotch, as the name indicates, having de- 
scended from two emigrations— one to the North of Ireland, and 
thence to the United States, constituting the well-known Scotch- 
Irish population of this country. The family of his mother was of 
German descent. 

Left an orphan at ten years of age, by the death of his father, young 
Ramsey was assisted by an uncle in his efforts to obtain an education 
and engage in business. He was a clerk in the store of this uncle at 
Harrisburg. About the year 1828, he was for a short time employed 
in the office of the register of deeds of Dauphin County. He after- 
ward qualified himself to pursue the business of ho use- carpenter, but 
at length, impelled by a love of reading, he determined to study law. 
With this view, he became a student of Lafayette College, at Easton, 
Pennsylvania, whence he passed, in 1837, to the office of Hamilton 
Alrich, Esq., of Harrisburg. He also prosecuted his studies at Car- 
lisle in the law-school of Hon. John Reed, and was admitted to prac- 
tice in 1839. During this period he often engaged in teaching. 

The following year was the celebrated Harrison campaign ; and 
Mr. Ramsey was so prominent in the organization of Whig clubs, 
that he was chosen Secretary of the Electoral College, which cast the 
votes of Pennsylvania for Harrison and Tyler. In 1841, he was 
elected chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. 
In 1843, he was nominated for Congress, and elected representative for 
the district composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and 
Schuylkill, and served in the Twenty-eighth Congress, (1843-4.) 
Having been reelected in 1844, was a member of the Twenty-ninth 
Congress, which terminated March 4tb, 1847. During these four 

(5f 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. * 

years Mr. Ramsey developed those qualities of sagacity and firmness 
which have been conspicuous during his whole career; and no mem- 
ber of the Pennsylvania delegation commanded more respect. His 
reputation extended to all parts of the State ; and his political friends 
intrusted to his management, as Chairman of the Whig State Com- 
mittee, the gubernatorial campaign of 1848, which also involved the 
election of General Taylor to the Presidency. 

Immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor, it devolved 
upon him to select the officers of the new Territory of Minnesota. 
The position of governor was tendered to Mr. Ramsey, whose choice of 
a future residence on the Upper Mississippi was confirmed by a visit 
some years previously to Texas and other south-western territories. 
The date of his commission as governor was April 2, 1849 ; and in 
May he arrived, with his family, at St. Paul, where he has since 
resided. 

Mrs. Ramsey — nee Anna Earle Jenks — is also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, the daughter of Hon. Michael H. Jenks, of Berks county, 
who served in Congress as a colleague of Mr. Ramsey. 

When Governor Ramsey assumed his duties as the executive offi- 
cer of the Territory of Minnesota, he ascertained, by a census, that 
the population, other than Indians, was only 4,680, mostly in the vi- 
cinity of Fort Snelling, and in the settlements of lumberers on the 
St. Croix River. The Indians, recently increased by a removal to a 
reservation in the Territory of the Winnebago tribe, numbered about 
35,000 ; and the entire region west of the Mississippi River was in 
their possession, except the military reservation inclosing Fort Snell- 
ing. The western limit of the Territory was the Missouri River ; and 
the entire area was fully 166,000 square miles. 

The territorial government was organized June 1, 1849. On the 
11th of June, an executive proclamation established three judicial 
districts, and provided for the first election of a territorial legislature. 
This body assembled in the dining-hall of the Central Hotel, in St. 
Paul, on the 3d of September. In the first message of the governor, 
he strongly advised against a public debt, and invoked the action of 



3 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

Congress to extend the preemption laws to unsurveyed lands, and to 
limit the sales of the public lands to actual settlers. The National 
Legislature promptly responded to the recommendation in favor of 
preiimptors ; and the evil of non-resident ownership has had less ex- 
istence under the land administration in Minnesota than in many 
other Western States. 

Governor Ramsey almost immediately commenced negotiations 
with the Indian tribes for the cession of their possessory rights to the 
public domain. The treaty of Mendota was first effected, by which 
the title of the Sioux half-breeds to a valuable parallelogram of ter- 
ritory near Lake Pepin, conterminous with the lake and extending 
westward about thirty miles, was commuted, and the district opened 
to settlement. During the years 1851-2, a negotiation was made with 
the Dakota nation for the cession of forty million acres west of the 
Mississippi, and which now constitutes Southern Minnesota. The first 
treaty of July 18, 1851, was amended by the Senate of the United 
States, requiring a new assemblage of the bands in 1852. 

In the autumn of 1851, Governor Ramsey negotiated with the 
Chippewas of Northern Minnesota for the cession of thirty miles on 
each side of the Red River of the North. This important treaty was 
not ratified by the Senate, postponing fully ten years the settlement 
of that region of Minnesota. After the adjournment of the Chippewa 
Council at Pembina, Governor Ramsey embarked on the Red River, 
and visited the Selkirk settlement, seventy miles north of the interna- 
tional frontier, on latitude 49°. His party was received with much 
consideration by Governor Christie, the officer of the Hudson Bay 
Company, then in command at Fort Garry. Few descriptions of this 
remote and unique colony convey a more vivid and correct impression 
than a narrative of this visit, which was afterward published by Go- 
vernor Ramsey, and partly repeated in a recent spcook on the Win- 
nipeg insurrection, delivered in the Senate of the United States. 

In 1853, with a change of parties in the administration of the Fe- 
deral government, Governor Ramsey was succeeded in the office of 
territorial governor by Willis A. Gorman. In taking leave of the 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY 4 

executive office, a prediction was hazarded of the future progress of 
the new community on the sources of the Mississippi which was then 
deemed sanguine, but has been more than realized by events. Go- 
vernor Eamsey's last message assigned ten years for the accomplish- 
ment of a State organization, which was reached in 1858 ; and twenty 
years, or 1873, for a population of half a million, which has been fully 
realized by the census of 1870. His horoscope of railroad connec- 
tions with Chicago, St. Louis, Lake Superior, and the Eed Eiver of 
the North, for which twenty years were allowed, will be witnessed 
before 1873. 

During a period of great party excitement which followed the re- 
tirement of Governor Eamsey, he met some injurious imputations 
upon his conduct of the negotiations with the Sioux Indians, by a 
demand for an investigation by a committee of the United States 
Senate. The result was an emphatic approval of his action — the ver- 
dict of a body politically hostile. 

In 1855, Governor Eamsey served a term as Mayor of St. Paul. 
In 1857, he was the candidate of the Eepublican Party for governor 
under the State organization. The election was close, the majority 
of H. II. Sibley, the Democratic candidate, who was declared chosen, 
having been exceeded by a vote on the Pembina frontier which was 
well known to be fraudulent. In 1859, on a second trial, he was 
elected governor, over G. L. Becker, by a majority of 3,752, in a to- 
tal vote of 38,918. 

On again assuming the executive office, Governor Eamsey illustrat- 
ed the practical qualities for which he has always been distinguished. 
He found the State deeply discredited ; and he inaugurated a policy 
of rigid retrenchment. He proposed and effected a reduction of 
salaries and a diminution of the number of members of the Legis- 
lature. 

The laws for the imposition and collection of taxes were thoroughly 
revised; but, while husbanding the revenue, he opposed all sacrifices 
of the lands donated by the general government. He especially re- 
sisted the demand for the sale of the school lands at low rates, and 



Itt 



5 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

the distribution of their proceeds among the counties. lie advocated, 
in a message of great force, that a minimum price of $8 per acre 
should be fixed, with a rate of $1.25 for swamp lands, reserving the 
proceeds of the latter for charitable institutions. These suggestions, 
with some modifications, were adopted. The fund accumulated 
under this legislation, in 1870, is $2,371,199, the proceeds of only 
363,000 acres, or about one eighth of the lands appropriated for the 
encouragement of education. 

At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, Governor Kamsey was 
in Washington; and immediately after the attack uj)on Fort Sumter, 
even in advance of President Lincoln's proclamation, he called on the 
Secretary of War, and tendered 1,000 men from Minnesota. The 
tender was accepted by Mr. Cameron, and became the initiative of an 
enrollment of 25,000 men of all arms — the contingent of Minnesota 
for the national defense. During the active scenes of the first year 
of the war, Governor Ramsey was reelected governor by a majority 
of 5,826 in a poll of 26,722 votes. 

An Indian war, unparalleled for atrocity, broke out in August, 
1862, upon the western frontiers of Minnesota. The Sioux bands, ob- 
serving the great exertions of the whites for the suppression of the 
rebellion, were prepared to believe that their great father at Washing- 
ton was powerless to repress hostilities ; and an unfortunate delay in 
the payment of annuities increased the excitement. A fatal affray, 
which at any other time would have passed with the punishment of 
the parties implicated, became the signal of wide-spread massacre. At 
least five hundred settlers, of all ages, lost their lives. Thousands 
abandoned their homes; and the panic extended to the Mississippi 
towns. Governor Ramsey was indefatigable in his exertions to re- 
store confidence and defend the frontier. Troops were dispatched 
under H. II. Sibley. The Indians were severely chastised ; a large 
number were captured, of whom thirty were executed at Mankato ; 
and the Sioux nation was forcibly expelled from the territory of the 
State. During the progress of these events, an extra session of the 
Legislature became necessary. The message of Governor Ramsey 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. b 

on that occasion is a graphic narrative of this striking passage of bor- 
der history. 

In January, 1863, Governor Kamsey was elected Senator of the 
United States, in place of Henry M. Rice, and was chosen for a second 
term in 18 69. 

As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post- 
Roads, Senator Ramsey has devoted himself to the extension and re- 
form of that important branch of the public service. A series of trea- 
ties has been consummated with his efficient cooperation, by which 
the postal rates to England and Germany have been greatly reduced , 
and, in 1869, Mr. Ramsey visited Paris to urge a similar arrangement. 
The terms which he then indicated, as the representative of Post- 
master-General Creswell — although not immediately accepted — have 
since been proposed by the French government, but were met by a 
counter-proposition for a still more material reduction of postage. 
These negotiations are likely to result in a common rate to all parts 
of Europe not largely in excess of our inland postage. 

The abolition of the franking privilege has been proposed and 
supported by Senator Ramsey. A bill to that effect passed the House 
of Representatives at the session of 1869-70, and led to an elaborate 
discussion in the Senate, but failed by a few votes to become a law. 
The burden of the argument against ail exemptions in the payment 
of postage mostly devolved on the Chairman of the Post-Office Com- 
mittee ; and his array of facts against the continuance of the franking 
privilege attracted the attention of the country. 

As a member of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads, Mr. 
Ramsey has contributed materially to the legislation facilitating the 
construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is understood to 
advocate efficient encouragement to the enterprise of a Southern 
Transcontinental road. He has always favored three trunk lines 
between the Mississippi and the Pacific States as necessary and just. 
Observing also the beneficent influence of railroads in Minnesota 
and other States, he has supported the donation in aid of railways of 
alternate sections of public lands to give value to the domain still 

76/ 



7 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

held by government, and to relieve the settlers of excessive burdens 
of transportation. 

Eeference has been made to a visit by Governor Ramsey to the 
Selkirk Settlement, in 1851, and to his favorable impressions of that 
singular and interesting community. As governor and senator, he 
has never omitted efforts to establish commercial and postal relations 
between the contiguous districts ; and, in anticipation of the with- 
drawal of the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company, he pre- 
sented to the Senate, in 1868, the outlines of a treaty between the 
United States, England, and Canada, by which, with the cession 
of the north-west territory and British Columbia to the United 
States, Canada might make certain of a liberal arrangement for 
reciprocal trade, and all claims against Great Britain originating 
during the late civil war might cease to be a topic of diplomatic 
discussion. These views were repeated in 1870, in connection 
with the resistance of the Red River people to a plan of irresponsible 
government under a Canadian official ; and though their consum- 
mation is for the present postponed, yet their influence upon the com- 
ing question of a political union between the United States and Ca- 
nada is very apparent 

Tbis hasty summary will sufficiently indicate the prominent posi- 
tion of Senator Ramsey. Few of his colleagues have exbibited more 
tact in establishing and sustaining personal influence. His elaborate 
speeches are terse and pointed, seldom exceeding thirty minutes in 
delivery ; while his self-possession and force of statement in the con- 
versational discussions of the Senate are most effective. He has 
proved himself a vigilant guardian of the interests of Minnesota. Of 
a frank, hearty bearing, his figure, countenance, and voice concur to 
make him a favorite with his associates and with all observers. 








^e^ 






BE^JAMOT F. EICE. 



'/,-. 



VJjgjENJAMIX F. EICE was born in East Otto, Cattaraugus 
County, New York, May 26, 1828. Asa boy, he worked 
on his father's farm during the spring and summer months, 
and at fifteen he commenced teaching school in winter, and attending 
an academy in the fall. At eighteen years of age he left his native 
State, and entered upon the study of law in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
with James Burt, Esq. After about six months study, it be- 
coming necessary to recruit his finances, he went to Cambridge city, 
Indiana, and again engaged in teaching school, at the same time 
continuing the study of law in the office of Hon. James Randan, a 
leading lawyer of the West. After a year's study there he was ex- 
amined and licensed to practice law. His health having been im- 
paired by close confinement he was compelled to postpone entering 
upon the practice of law for two years, during which time lie trav- 
elled in Texas and Mexico. He then located in Irvine, Estelle County, 
Kentucky, where he entered upon the practice of law, which he 
pursued successfully for ten years, in that and surrounding counties. 
In 1855 he was elected to the Kentucky Legislature, and served on 
the Judiciary and other important committees during the ensuing 
session. He was appointed in 1856 Presidential Elector on the Demo- 
cratic ticket, and met during the canvass most of the prominent poli- 
ticians of the State in discussion upon the stump. In 1858 he was 
married to Miss Nannie Riddel, of Irvine, Ky. He was a candidate 
for Congress in 1859, but withdrew from the canvass through physi- 
cal inability to engage actively in it. 

In 1860 he removed to Minnesota, and located in Mankato, 
where he practiced law successfully until the breaking out of the 
Rebellion. After the capture of Fort Sumter he attempted to 
induce the Democratic party, as such, to take the war side of the 

/&3 



2 BENJAMIN F. RICE. 

question. To effect this he held many meetings, and had several 
public discussions, but the effort proved unsuccessful, and he, with all 
who joined him in the attempt, entered the service by enlisting in 
the 3d Minnesota Infantry Volunteers. After serving for thirty days 
as a private he was made captain of a company, and served three 
years in that capacity. He had three commissions sent him at 
different times for promotion, but declined to accept them. He 
served in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. After the fall of 
Vicksburg he was transferred to Arkansas, and was with the expedi- 
tion that captured Little Rock in the fall of 1863. He served there 
until the latter part of the following year, when he resigned. A 
loyal State government having been organized, and civil government 
having been restored in a large part of the State, he located at Little 
Rock, where he opened an office and entered upon a very prosperous 
career as a lawyer. 

In 1867 he led off in the organization of the Republican party in 
Arkansas, and at the first State Convention held in the spring of that 
year was made Chairman of the State Central Committee. Under 
his supervision the Republican party carried the State in three 
different elections, including the Presidential election of 1868. He 
was not himself a candidate for any office during the reconstruction 
period, devoting undivided attention to the work of combining vari- 
ous elements into a harmonious and victorious party. 

Arkansas having finally been brought into a condition suitable for 
. restoration to practical relations with the Union, Mr. Rice was chosen 
a United States Senator for the long term ending March 3, 1873. 
He proceeded at once to Washington, and urged the immediate ad- 
mission of the State, which was accomplished in advance of that of 
any other of the rebel States. 

Upon being admitted to the Senate he was placed on three im- 
portant Committees, those on the Judiciary, the Pacific Railroad, and 
the District of Columbia, Giving prompt attention to his duties, both 
in the Senate and on Committees, he soon acquired the reputation of 
being an efficient working member. 



THOMAS J". KOBEBTSCOT. 




SlIOMAS J. ROBERTSON was born in Fairfield County, 
South Carolina, August 3, 1823. His father, John Rob- 
ertson, was a wealthy planter who is still living, honored 
in having served the country as a volunteer in the war of 1812. 

The subject of this sketch pursued his preparatory studies at Mount 
Zion Academy in his native district, and graduated at South Carolina 
College, Columbia, in December, 1843. He entered upon the study 
of medicine, but soon found that this was not congenial to his tastes 
and inclinations, which from the associations of his early life were 
drawn towards agricultural pursuits. He engaged in planting, at 
the same time giving attention to railroad enterprises — the most 
efficient aids for the development of the agricultural interests of the 
country. • 

At the breaking out of the rebellion he did not join the multitude 
of Southern people who took arms against the United States, but 
stood forth a remarkable exception among men of his class in loyalty 
to the Union. He remained during the entire war an outspoken 
Union man, and never in any way compromised his position as a 
loyal citizen of the United States. He was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention which met under the Reconstruction Acts. 
At the first meeting of the General Assembly, under the new Con- 
stitution, he was elected a Senator from South Carolina in the Con- 
gress of the United States by a vote almost unanimous, and took his 
seat July 22, 1868. He was placed on the Committees on Manufac- 
tures and Claims, and was made chairman of the Select Committee 
on the Removal of Political Disabilities. His term of office expires 
March 3, 1871. 

/6r 



EDMUND G. EOSS. 




DMUND G. ROSS was born in Ashland, Ohio, December 
7 1826. He received a good education, learned the art 
of printing, and was for a time foreman in the office of 
the"" Milwaukee Sentinel.'' At the commencement of the Kansas 
troubles, he went to that territory, took an active part in its local 
affairs, and became editor of the " Kansas Tribune "—at that time 
the only free State paper, all others having been destroyed. He was 
a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1859, which framed 
the present Constitution of the State, and from that time till 1861 
he served in the State Legislature. At the outbreak of the rebel- 
lion he enlisted as a private soldier in a Kansas regiment, and was 
promoted step by step to the rank of major. In July, 1866, he was 
appointed by the governor of the State a Senator in Congress from 
Kansas for the unexpired term of James H. Lane, deceased, took 
his seat July 25, and was re-elected in January, 1867. In the 
Fortieth Congress he served on the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
on Mines and Mining, and as chairman of the Joint Committee on 

Enrolled Bills. 

Among the speeches of Mr. Ross during this Congress was his ad- 
dress to the Senate on the bill to establish peace with certain Indian 
tribes. In a speech on the resolution to investigate alleged impro- 
per influences in the Impeachment trial of President Johnson, Mr. 
Ross vindicated himself against insinuations prejudicial to his integ- 
rity in connection with his vote for the President's acquittal. " I 
could not," said he, " declare the President guilty of high crimes 
and misdemeanors on mere differences as to governmental policy. 
I sought to divest my mind of all party prejudice, hear the accusa- 
tions and the evidence, and endeavored to cast my vote in the cause 
with the candor and courage of an honest judge." 

/a 



WILLAKD SAULSBUKY. 




JLLARD SAULSBUEY was born in Kent County, Dela- 
ware, June 2, 1820. He was educated at Delaware 
•d$?^F College, and at Dickinson College. He adopted the 
profession of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1850 he 
was appointed attorney-general of Delaware, and held the office five 
years. In 1859 he was elected a Senator in Congress from Delaware, 
and in 1864 was re-elected for the term ending in 1871. He was a 
member of the " Chicago Convention " of 1864, and during his entire 
political career has been actively identified with the Democratic 
party. When he entered the Senate his party was in the majority, 
but it has been his lot during the greater portion of his service to 
act with a meagre minority. From the first he opposed the designs 
of the secessionists. On the message of President Buchanan, of 
December, 1860, Messrs. Wigfall and Ivison occupied an entire day 
in the Senate advocating the doctrine of secession. At the close of 
the discussion Mr. Saulsbury briefly and emphatically declared the 
attitude of Delaware to be one of strict loyalty to the Union. When 
Jefferson Davis introduced in the Senate his celebrated resolutions 
in favor of secession, Mr. Saulsbury moved as a substitute a quota- 
tion from Washington's farewell address. In caucus he opposed the 
movement, and was the only Democratic Senator who did not vote 
for the resolutions which finally passed. His position in the impor- 
tant crisis was similar to that of Crittenden of Kentucky, and Pearce 
of Maryland. He voted in favor of the resolution authorizing 
President Lincoln to use military force for the collection of the reve- 
nues in Charleston, and other harbors held by the rebels. During 
the war, and subsequently, he constantly opposed the Republican 
majority in the Senate. The Civil Rights bill, the Freedmen's Bu- 
reau bill, and all the constitutional amendments encountered his able 
and earnest, but ineffectual, opposition. 



FREDERICK A. SAWYER. 




FREDERICK A. SAWYER was born in Bolton, Worcester 
County, Massachusetts, December 12, 1822. He attended 
the public schools of Bolton and the neighboring towns, and 
subsequently entered Harvard University, where he was graduated 
among the high scholars of his class in ISM. Devoting himself to 
the work of education he was successively employed as a teacher in 
Gardiner and Wiscasset, Maine; Nashua, New Hampshire, and 
Lowell, South Heading, and Boston, Massachusetts. In 1854 he 
married a daughter of the late Ira Gay, Esq., of Nashau, New Hamp- 
shire. 

In 1859 he accepted an invitation to become principal of the State 
Normal School for girls in Charleston, South Carolina, which position 
he held until September, 1S64, when, after long and persistent efforts 
on the part of his friends on the Board of Commissioners of the 
Normal School he obtained for himself and family a passport through 
the lines of the Confederate Army. 

As a teacher, the life of Mr. Sawyer for twenty years was an un- 
broken success. He possessed in a peculiar degree those qualifica- 
tions which endeared him to his pupils ; gentleness, patience, suavity 
and the ability to communicate knowledge with perspicuity and im- 
pressiveness. The associations incident to the school-room extended 
to the family circle, and thence to ihe community, until there were 
few men whose personal character and intellectual acquirements 
commanded more general respect. During the war, when the pres- 
ence of Northern men was universally looked upon with disfavor, 
and Mr. Sawyer was known to be loyal to the government of the 

/a 



FREDERICK A. SAWYER. 2 

Union, the most ultra of his political opponents conceded to him the 
credit of being a gentleman too courageous to surrender and too 
honest to conceal his convictions. Up to the hour of his departure 
for the North his consistency of principle and his integrity of purpose 
created that confidence in him which afterwards took more definite 
shape when he entered the arena of public life. During the years 
1864 and '65, Mr. Sawyer made many patriotic speeches in the 
North, and when hostilities ceased he returned to Charleston as Col- 
lector of Internal Revenue for the Second District of South Carolina, 
the first civil appointment made in the State after the war. It was 
a just reward for his devotion to the cause of the Union, and its be- 
stowal gave entire satisfaction to the people. 

Subsequently he was elected a member of the convention to 
frame a new constitution for the State, but, owing to the ex- 
acting nature of the duties of his official position, he was un- 
able to participate in the proceedings of that body. At the 
first session of the General Assembly elected under the new con- 
stitution, Mr. Sawyer was pressed to represent the State in the 
United States Senate. The secret of his personal popularity was 
the opinion which prevailed in all portions of the State that he was 
a gentleman of unswerving integrity and talent, and was possessed 
of broad, statesmanlike views to make him a fit representative of the 
interests of the State, at a time when prudence and magnanimity 
were the necessary requisites to ensure the restoration of a broken 
Union. It is not surprising therefore, that Democrats, as well as 
Republicans, gave him their support, and secured his election. A 
few days thereafter, on the 22d of July, 1868, he took his seat in the 
Senate chamber. During the Fortieth Congress, he was a member 
of the Committee on Private Land Claims, and the Committee on 
Pensions. In the Forty-first Congress, he was a member of the Com- 
mittee on Private Land Claims, the Committee on Education and 
Labor, and the Committee on Appropriations. 

In person, Mr. Sawyer is about six feet in height, is compactly 
built, and has an organization indicative of well balanced muscular 

12 

HI 



3 FREDERICK A. SAWYER. 

and intellectual power. In manners he is easy and graceful. He 
possesses a keen insight of character, measures men at a glance, and 
estimates them for what they are worth without reference to their 
surroundings, and easily wins the good will of those whose friendship 
he desires. In social life few men are more agreeable. He is genial, 
witty, and even brilliant in conversation, and in general society is 
clever and impressive. 

In the Senate Mr. Sawyer soon took rank among its best debaters. 
When he speaks, which is but seldom, his efforts are characterized 
by brevity and compactness. He is practical rather then eloquent, 
and though he indulges in no forensic display, he is strong, earnest, 
and effective. Self-poised, armed with facts, seeking by reason and 
logic to convince the understanding, and possessing keen critical acu- 
men, he is always formidable either as a champion or an antagonist. 
Mr. Sawyer is an admirable type of that class of Americans, who, by 
reason of their integrity, talents, and industry, have been elevated to 
the most exalted positions in the councils of the nation. 






JOHJST SHEKMAX. 



|S®f N 1034, three Shermans — two brothers and a cousin — emigra- 



ted from Essex, England, to the infant colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay. One of them settled in Connecticut, where his 
family remained and prospered for many years. A great-grandson 
of the emigrant, who had become a Judge of one of the Connecticut 
Courts, dying in 1815, his son, Charles Robert Sherman, himself a 
thoroughly educated lawyer, removed to Ohio, where he soon acquired 
an extensive practice, and in 1823 became one of the Judges of the 
Supreme Court. He married young, and had a family of eleven 
children. In 1829, he died suddenly of cholera, leaving his family 
in destitute circumstances. One of his sons was William Tecumseh 
Sherman, now General of the Army. The eighth child of the family 
was John Sherman, who was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. 
He went steadily to school at Mount Vernon, Ohio, until he was 
fourteen years old. He was then sent to the Muskingum Improve- 
ment, to earn his own support, and to learn the business of a civil 
engineer, and was placed under the care of Colonel Samuel E. 
Curtis, the resident engineer of the work. He was thus employed 
for two years, in which he acquired the best part of his early educa- 
tion, in learning the methods and forms of business, and acquiring 
habits of industry and self-reliance. The election of 1838, which 
brought the Democratic party into power, was followed by the re- 
moval of Colonel Curtis from his position, and the consequent loss 
of employment by John Sherman. 

His engineering apprenticeship closing thus abruptly, he com- 
menced the study of law with his brother, Charles T. Sherman, now 
United States District Judge in Ohio, who was then engaged as a 
lawyer, in Mansfield, Ohio. The day after he was twenty-one years 



2 JOHN SHERMAN. 

old, he obtained a license to practice law, and immediately entered 
into a partnership with his brother, which lasted for eleven years. 
Entering at once npon an extensive practice, he soon obtained a wide 
reputation as a laborious, honest, and successful lawyer. 

In politics, John Sherman took a profound interest, although, as 
an ardent Whig, in a strongly Democratic district, he had no hope 
of obtaining office. He was sent as a delegate to the Whig National 
Conventions of 1848 and 1852, and in the latter year was chosen a 
Presidential Elector. 

When the Nebraska issue arose in 1854, he felt the necessity of 
combining all the elements of opposition against the further exten- 
sion of Slavery, and earnestly labored to build up the political organ- 
ization which soon developed into the Republican party. He ac- 
cepted a nomination for Representative in Congress, from the Thir- 
teenth Ohio District, and, to his surprise, was elected. He entered 
the House of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth Congress, fully 
equipped for useful and successful public service. Fluent in debate, 
patient of details, laborious in investigation, conciliatory in temper, 
and persistent in purpose, he entered at once upon a successful con- 
gressional career. 

In the first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress, he served upon 
the Kansas Investigating Committee, and prepared the famous re- 
port which the Committee presented to the House of Representatives 
and to the country. This brought him at once into honorable prom- 
inence before the people. At the close of the session the Repub- 
lican members of the House, through the influence of Mr. Sherman, 
adopted the amendment to the Army Bill, denying the validity of 
the slavery-extending laws of Congress. Had the Republican party 
stood upon that declaration as a platform, they would probably have 
carried the presidential election of 1856. Mr. Sherman wrote an ad- 
dress to the people of the United States, elaborating the principle 
contained in that declaration. Although it was agreed upon by the 
Republican members of the House, Mr. Seward and other Senators 
dissented, and the doctrine was not promulgated. 

In the Thirty-fifth Congress, Mr. Sherman took an active part in 



JOHN SHERMAN. 3 

the heated contest over the Lecompton Constitution and the En- 
glish Bill, and made many powerful speeches. He served as Chair- 
man of the Naval Investigating Committee which made a most dam- 
aging exposure of the complicity of Buchanan and Toucey with the 
crimes of the slavery propagandists. He made an important speech 
upon the public expenditure, which was widely circulated as a cam- 
paign document. 

At the opening of the Thirty-sixth Congress occurred the memor- 
able contest for the Speakership, in which Mr. Sherman was the can- 
didate of the Republicans. He had signed a recommendation of 
Helper's " Impending Crisis," and this was made the pretext by the 
Southern members for a violent opposition to his election. Through 
a long series of ballotings he lacked but one or two votes of an elec- 
tion. In order to secure an organization, his name was finally with- 
drawn, and Mr. Pennington was elected. Mr. Sherman was at once 
honored with the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, by virtue of which he became leader of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. He distinguished himself as chairman of this committee 
by putting through the House the Morrill Tariff, a measure greatly 
promotive of material prosperity to the country. 

In an important speech, delivered in reply to Pendleton, February, 
1861, he displayed a statesmanlike perception of the result of the 
conflict to which the South was rushing with such arrogant confi- 
dence, predicting that slavery would be destroyed, and that the North 
would triumph. 

Mr. Sherman was elected as a Representative to the Thirty-seventh 
Congress, but on the resignation of Mr. Chase, as a United States 
Senator, he was elected by the Legislature to a seat in the Senate. 
He was placed upon the most important committee of the Senate, 
that of Finance. He introduced the National Bank Bill, and had 
charge of that important measure, as well as of the Legal Tender 
Acts, on the floor and in the debates. 

His labors were chiefly confined to finance and taxation — to pro- 
viding money and maintaining credit to carry on the war. In Jan- 
nary, 1863, he delivered a speech against the continuance of the 



4 JOHN SHERMAN. 

State Banking system, and one in favor of the National Banks, both 
of which were of decisive influence. 

In the Thirty-ninth Congress lie introduced a bill to fund the pub- 
lic indebtedness, which if passed, would have resulted in the saving 
of $20,000,000 of interest per annum, the wider dissemination of 
the loan among the masses, and the removal of the debt from its pre- 
sent injurious competition with railroad, mercantile, manufacturing, 
and all the other vital interests of the country. Unfortunately for the 
public interests, the bill was mutilated in the Senate and defeated in 
the House. 

In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Sherman 
proposed the substitute for the Reconstruction bill which finally^ be- 
came a law. 

In the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Sherman was Chairman of the 
Senate Finance Committee, and in this important position exerted 
a marked effect upon Congressional legislation. In the second 
session he reported a new bill for funding the National Debt, and 
converting the notes of the United States. He advocated this bill as 
a measure of just and wise public policy, in a speech of remarkable 
ability. 

"In person, Senator Sherman is tall and spare, with a large head, and 
countenance expressive of decision, firmness and self-control. He 
speaks smoothly and rapidly, making no effort at display, aiming 
only to produce conviction by clear statement of facts and argu- 
ments. 








;&fe^e^> 






GEORGE E. SPENCER. 




<EORGE E. SPENCER was born in the town of Champion, 
H j^ Jefferson County, New York, November 1, 1836, the young- 

^L> est of four sons of the late Doctor Gordon P. Spencer, of 
Watertown, New York, who was a surgeon in the United States 
Army during the war of 1812. Doctor Spencer was born in Salis- 
bury, Connecticut, from which State the Spencer family emigrated 
to New York, prominent among them being the Hon. John C. Spen- 
cer, and Ambrose Spencer, names familiar to the country in the 
record of statesmen and lawyers. 

The subject of this sketch, after obtaining a liberal education at 
Montreal College, Canada, returned to his home in Watertown, New 
York, and entered upon the study of the law. But he was impa- 
tient of home restraints, and, having imbibed in early youth a long- 
ing for adventure, determined upon emigrating to the far west. He 
located in the State of Iowa, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and, 
entering actively the arena of politics as a Republican, was chosen 
secretary* of the Iowa State Senate at its session of 1857-58. 

At the breaking-out of the rebellion, Mr. Spencer was pioneering 
further westward, engaged in prospecting the mineral resources of 
Colorado and adjacent territory, a true type of the restless but deter- 
mined spirit of American adventure, which has discovered and opened 
up the wealth of gold and silver that has enriched the nation and 
populated the wilderness. He entered the army of the Union as 
captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, and served 
with distinction as chief of staff to Major-Gen. Grenville M. Dodge 
until 1863, when he recruited and raised the 1st Regiment of Ala- 
bama cavalry, composed of the loyal mountaineers of that State, and, 
as colonel, commanded a brigade of cavalry on Sherman's famous 

or 



2 GEORGE E. SPENCER. 

" March to the Sea." He was breveted a brigadier-general for gal- 
lantry on the field, and, after the war, resumed the practice of the 
law at Decatur, Alabama, in the neighborhood of the homes of his 
old comrades of the 1st Alabama cavalry. 

Mr. Spencer took prominent part in the reconstruction of Ala- 
bama, and was appointed a register in bankruptcy by Chief Justice 
Chase in May, 1867, and on the 21st of July, 1868, was elected a 
Senator in Congress for the term of six years. 

Mr. Spencer is recognized in the Senate as an industrious and in- 
fluential member. While possessing the elements of generosity and 
courtesy to an eminent degree, he battles for his principles and his 
friends, with commendable and unshaken zeal. An illustration of 
this is found in a speech delivered by him in the Senate, during the 
discussion of the labor question and the eight hour system, from 
which the following is a brief extract : " I have the honor, Mr. Presi- 
dent, of representing upon this floor a large constituency who have 
heretofore been deprived by slavery of all benefit and reward of their 
own toil. For over two hundred years the institution of slavery has 
degraded the interests and respectability of labor in the South, affect- 
ing the poorer classes of whites equally with the blacks. Through 
much tribulation and bloodshed the shackles have been stricken 
from them, and for the first time in the history of our country its 
labor is now all free, and involuntary service no longer exists. Under 
the cruel laws of slavery, education was denied this people ; they 
were kept in total obscurity and darkness, the effort being to repress 
rather than to encourage intelligence. From the first break of dawn 
they were forced to toil wearily, under the dispiriting lash of the 
overseer, with no other hope than to see the sun go down that they 
might have a brief surcease from the grinding oppression of their 
tasks. Their toil is now their own, consecrated to them by the best 
blood of free America ; and it is a matter of deep concern to the 
country and to myself, that they shall receive the benefits of that 
freedom, not only in their labor, but in their education ; as well in 
books as in their new relations as citizens of the Republic." 



■WILLIAM! SPEAGUE. 



t^jMlj^lLLIAM SPEAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, 
IjgK September 11, 1830. He is a nephew of William Sprague, 
2®^ who was Governor of Khode Island in 1S3S, and United 
States Senator in 1812. He received an academical education at 
Tarrytown, New York, and subsequently engaged in the calico print 
works founded by his father and uncle, in which he is now a partner. 
He eno-ao-ed also in other branches of manufactures, became presi- 
dent of several banks, and a director of various insurance com- 
panies. In his eighteenth year he joined an artillery company in 
Providence, and became a colonel. 

In 1860, he was nominated for Governor of Rhode Island by a 
portion of the Republican party, and elected, in consequence of a 
coalition between them and the Democrats. In February, 1861, 
foreseeing the outbreak of the civil war, he offered to the President 
and General Scott 1,000 men and a battery of artillery, and as soon 
as the call for troops was made, hastened to raise regiments, and 
wont with them to the field. The commission of Brigadier-General 
of Volunteers was offered to him in May, but he refused it. He 
fought with the Rhode Island troops at Bull Run, and in several en- 
gagements of the Chickahominy campaign. He was chosen I nited 
States Senator for sis years from March 1, 1863, and was re-elected 
for the term ending in 1ST5. A few years ago he married a 
daughter of Chief-Justice Chase. 

In the Senate ho served as Chairman of the Committee on Mann 
factinv-. a position for which he was fitted by his business-like habits 
and thorough understanding of commercial law. 

In the [mpeachment trial he voted the President guilty of high 
crimes and misdemeanors, as charged in the indictment. During 



2 WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 

his first terra in the Senate, he seldom spoke, but in March and 
April, 1869, he startled the Senate and the country by a series of 
remarkable speeches on national affairs. The first was on " The 
Financial Condition," and depicted ruin in store for the country 
unless it should pause in the " forced policy pursued since the close 
of the war." Two speeches on the Civil Tenure Act drew glowing 
pictures of the future of the country under " a government of 
lawyers and judges, educated in one line, practiced in one pursuit ; 
educated upon the quarrels and the exhibitions of the worst passions 
of human nature; practiced in the dissensions, influenced by the 
vices of the people." Speeches on " The National Currency " and 
"The Tax Bill " presented the injurious effects upon the country of 
large accumulation of capital, illustrated by reference to prominent 
citizens of Rhode Island. 

Mr. Sprague is somewhat slight in person — with a grave expres- 
sion, and thoughtful attitude. Retiring and reticent, he has none of 
the qualities of the noisy demagogue. Although the richest man in 
Congress, he makes no personal ostentation of wealth. As a speaker 
he is slow and deliberate, uttering his convictions rather with the 
earnestness of the conversationalist rather than the art of an orator 








7c 




WILLIAM M. STEWAET. 




^ILLIAM M. STEWART was bora in Wayne County, New 
York, August 9th, 1827. When eight years old he re- 
moved with his father to Trumbull County, Ohio. He 
worked on a farm in summer, and attended school in winter, until 
thirteen years old, when he left home with the consent of his parents 
and worked at farming for various persons, at six, eight, and twelve 
dollars a month, until 1844. In the Spring of that year he drove a 
herd of cattle to Pennsylvania, and visited Philadelphia, the first 
large city he had seen. He thought of going to sea, and went on 
board the receiving ship with a view to getting into the Navy. 
While on board he saw a boy badly treated, and thinking the situa- 
tion not congenial to him, he started back to Ohio. 

In the summer of 1845, he taught school in Hampden, Ohio, and 
subsequently attended an academy at Farmington. He then re- 
turned to his native county in New York, where he taught school, 
and prosecuted his studies, making especial proficiency in Mathemat- 
ics. He entered Yale College in 1848, remaining there until the 
winter of 1850, when he started for California, and arrived there by 
way of the Isthmus in the following April. He w T orked two years 
at mining with varied success. He ran for Sheriff of Nevada 
County in the Spring of 1851, but there being several ooposing can- 
didates, who made a combination, he was defeated by a rew votes. 
Soon after he commenced the study of law, and in the fall of 1852 
was admitted to the bar, and appointed District-Attorney on the 
same day. The next year he was elected to the same office by the 
Democratic party. In 1S54, the Attorney-General of California 
left the State on leave of absence for six months, and Mr. Stewart 
was appointed in his place. He subsequently went to San Francisco 



V 



2 WILLIAM M. STEWART. 

and formed a law partnership with Ex-Governor Henry S. Foote of 
Mississippi, and Judge Aldrich, which continued about two years. In 
the fall of 1855 he married a daughter of Governor Foote. and went 
hack to Xevada, where he remained practicing law until 1857. He 
then went to Downieville, where there was a great deal of litigation 
growing out of mining disputes. He got the lead of the practice, 
and received very heavy fees. In the spring of 1860 he went to the 
Territory of Utah — now Nevada — where he was employed by the 
first locators of the Comstock Lode to manage their heavy liti- 
gations. 

When the Legislature was organized, he was in the Territorial 
Council. He took an active part in organizing the Union party, 
and in 1863 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention. 
On the admission of Nevada into the Union, he was elected to the 
United States Senate, and was admitted to his seat February 1st, 
1865. His term closing in 1869, he was re-elected for the term 
ending in 1875. 

Upon his entrance into the Senate, he was appointed to the im- 
portant Committees on the Judiciary, Public Lands, Pacific Kail- 
road, and Mines and Mining. Of the last-named committee he was 
in the Forty-first Congress appointed chairman. 

He took a prominent part in the important discussions of the 
Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. In February, 1866, he 
made a speech, occupying parts of two days in its delivery, in which 
he maintained the right of the loyal people in the recent rebel States 
to be represented in Congress. On the 21th of May, 1866, he made 
a speech, of three hours' duration, on a pending Constitutional 
Amendment, in which he advocated "pardon for the rebels, and the 
ballot for the blacks." lie stood in the Fortieth Congress among 
the firm opponents of President Johnson's policy. He is a ready 
and effective off-hand debater, never thrown off his guard, and never 
losing his good humor. 










CA#^t /%/L^9^ 



OHAELES SUMNER 




HE ancestors of Charles Sumner were among the early- 
emigrants to New England. His father's cousin, Increase 
Sumner, was one of the early governors of the State of 
Massachusetts, and was regarded as a worthy successor of Hancock 
and Adams. The father of Charles Sumner was a successful law- 
yer, and for many years held the office of High Sheriff of the County 
of Suffolk. 

Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6th, 1811. Having 
received a preparatory training in the Boston Latin School, and the 
Phillips Academy, he became a student in Harvard College, where 
he graduated in 1830. He subsequently entered the Cambridge Law 
School, where he pursued his studies three years under the direction 
of Judge Story, with whom he formed an intimate and lasting friend- 
ship. 

In 1836 he was admitted to the bar, and rose rapidly in his pro- 
fession. He was appointed Reporter of the Circuit Court of the 
United States ; and, while holding this office, published three vol- 
umes of decisions, known as " Sumner's Reports." At the same 
time he edited the " American Jurist," a law paper of high reputation. 

During three winters following his admission to the bar, Mr. Sum- 
ner lectured to the students of the Cambridge Law School. Then, 
as in after life, his favorite BTibjects were those relating to constitu- 
tional law and the law of nations. In 1836 he was offered a profess- 
orship in the Law School, and in Harvard College, both of which he 
declined. 

In 1837 he visited Europe, where he remained till 1840, traveling 

f*7 



2 CHARLES SUMNER. 

in Italy, Germany, and France, and residing a year in England. 
His time was improved in adding to his previous literary and legal 
attainments an extensive knowledge of the languages and literature 
of modern Europe. 

After three years spent abroad, Mr. Sumner returned to his native 
city, and resumed the practice of law. In addition to his professional 
duties, he was occupied from 1844 to 1846 in editing and publishing 
an elaborately annotated edition of "Yesey's Keports," in twenty 
volumes. 

Mr. Sumner was recognized as belonging to the "Whig party, yet 
for several years after his return from Europe he took but little part 
in politics. He made his first appearance on the political stage on 
the 4th of July, 1845, when he pronounced an oration before the 
municipal authorities of Boston on " The True Grandeur of Nations." 
Tins utterance was made in view of the aspect of affairs which 
portended war between the United States and Mexico. This oration 
attracted great attention, and was widely circulated both in Europe 
and America. Cobden pronounced it " the most noble contribution 
made by any modern writer to the cause of peace." 

At a popular meeting in Fanned Hall, November 4, 1845, Mr. 
Sumner made an eloquent and able argument in opposition to the 
annexation of Texas, on the ground of slavery. In the following 
year he delivered an address before the Whig State Convention of 
Massachusetts on " The Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig Party." 
In this address, Mr. Sumner avowed himself the uncompromising 
enemy of slavery. He announced his purpose to pursue his opposi- 
tion to that great evil, under the Constitution, which he maintained 
was an instrument designed to secure liberty and equal rights. Pro- 
visions in the Constitution conferring privileges on slaveholders were 
compromises with what the framers of that instrument expected 
woidd prove but a temporary thing. 

In 1S46 Mr. Sumner addressed a public letter to Hon. Eobert C. 
Winthrop, who then represented Boston in Congress, rebuking him 
for his vote in favor of war with Mexico. In this letter the Mexican 



CHARLES SUMNER. 3 

war was characterized as an unjust, dishonorable, and cowardly attack 
on a sister republic, having its origin in a purpose to promote the 
extension of slavery. 

The position of Mr. Sumner was too far in advance of the Whig 
party to admit of his remaining in full fellowship. In 1848 he sun- 
dered his old political ties, and aided in the organization of the Free 
Soil party, whose platform was composed, of principles which he had 
distinctively announced in his public addresses. Yan Buren and 
Adams, candidates of the newjparty, were earnestly supported by 
Mr. Sumner in the Presidential contest of 1848. 

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act tended to obliterate old 
party lines and overshadow former political issues. A vacancy in 
the United States Senate occurring by the accession of Daniel 
Webster to the cabinet of Mr. Fillmore, the duty of electing his suc- 
cessor devolved upon the Legislature of Massachusetts. By a coali- 
tion of Free-Soilers and Democrats in the Legislature, Mr. Sumner 
was nominated for the office, and was elected after an earnest and 
protracted contest. The result was regarded as a signal triumph of 
the anti-slavery party. 

In the Senate of the United States, Mr. Sumner's first important 
speech was against the Fugitive Slave Law. He then announced his 
great political formula, " Freedom is national, and slavery sectional," 
which furnished the clue to his subsequent career. He argued that 
Congress had no power, under the Constitution, to legislate for the 
rendition of fugitive slaves, and that the act was not only in conflict 
with the Constitution, but was cruel and tyrannical. 

The great debate on the Missouri Compromise and the contest in 
Kansas elicited all of Mr. Sumner's powers of eloquence and argu- 
ment. His great speech, published under the title of " The Crime 
against Kansas," occupied two days in its delivery. Southern Sena- 
tors and Representatives were greatly incensed by 'this speech, and it 
was determined to meet argument by blows. Two days after the 
delivery of the speech, Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from 
South Carolina, assaulted Mr. Sumner while writing at his desk in 



4 CHARLES SUMNER. 

the Senate Chamber. Mr. Sumner, unarmed and powerless behind 
his desk, was beaten on the head until he fell insensible on the floor. 
A Con unit tee of the House of Representatives reported in favor of 
Brooks's expulsion. The resolution then reported received a little 
less than the two-thirds vote necessary to its adoption. Mr. Brooks, 
however, resigned his seat, pleaded guilty before the court at "Wash- 
ington upon an indictment for assault, and was sentenced to a fine of 
three hundred dollars. Having returned to his constituents to re- 
ceive their verdict on his conduct, he was re-elected to Congress by 
a unanimous vote. A few days after resuming his seat in Congress, 
he died suddenly of acute inflammation of the throat. 

On the other hand, Mr. Sumner did not fail to receive the endorse- 
ment of his constituents. In the following January, while still dis- 
abled with his wounds, he was re-elected by an almost unanimous 
vote, in a Legislature consisting of several hundred members. In 
the spring of 1857 he went to Europe, by the advice of his physicians, 
to seek a restoration of his health, and returned in the following 
autumn to resume his seat in the Senate. His health being still im- 
paired, he again went abroad in May, 1858, and submitted to a 
course of medical treatment of extraordinary severity. After an 
absence of eighteen months, he returned in the autumn of 1859, with 
health restored, again to enter upon his Senatorial duties. 

It was highly appropriate that the first serious effort of Mr. 
Stunner, after his return to the Senate, should be a delineation of 
" The Barbarism of Slavery." In an elaborate and eloquent speech, 
which was published under that title, he denounced slavery in its in- 
fluence on character, society, and civilization. 

In the Presidential contest of 1860, which resulted in the election 
of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Sumner took an active part, and was grati- 
fied in seeing the signal triumph of principles which he had long 
maintained. On •the secession of the rebel States, he earnestly op- 
posed all compromise with slavery as a means of restoring the Union. 
He early proposed and advocated emancipation as the speediest mode 
of bringing the war to a close. 

( - 



CHARLES SUMNER. 5 

In March, 1S61, lie entered upon the responsible position of 
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In this posi- 
tion he has rendered great service to the country by his vigilant at- 
tention to our interests as affected by our relations with European 
powers. His influence has always been exerted to promote peace 
and mutual understanding. On the 9th of January, 1862, he de- 
livered an elaborate speech, arguing that the seizure of Mason and 
Slidell, on board the steamer Trent, was unjustifiable on the princi- 
ples of international law which had always been maintained by the 
United States. 

In March, 1863, Mr. Sumner entered upon his third Senatorial term. 
He advocated with zeal and eloquence all the great Congressional 
measures which promoted the successful prosecution of the war. 
The Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery, which was the 
great act of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was a triumph of the prin- 
ciples long advocated by Mr. Sumner, and forms a crowning glory of 
his statesmanship. 

On the first day of the Thirty-Ninth Congress Mr. Sumner intro- 
duced a bill looking to the reconstruction of the rebel States under a 
Republican form of government, and a measure to confer suffrage 
on the colored people of the District of Columbia. 

He took the high ground that it was the right and duty of Con- 
gress, under the Constitution, to guarantee impartial suffrage in all 
the States. He was bold and eloquent in advocating the securing, 
by Congressional enactment, of equal civil and political rights to all 
men without regard to color. 

He earnestly opposed the reconstruction policy of President John- 
son, and shuddered to see his disposition to leave the freedmen in 
the hands of their late masters. On the 20th of 'December, 1865, 
Mr. Sumner denounced the President's " attempt to white wash the 
unhappy condition of the rebel States, and throw the mantle of 
official oblivion over sickening and heart-rending outrages where hu- 
man rights are sacrificed, and rebel barbarism receives a new letter 

of license." 

13 



6 CHARLES SUMNER. 

From first to last Mr. Sumner was one of the boldest of the oppo- 
nents of President Johnson's usurpations. In the great trial of Im- 
peachment he voted to convict the President, and sustained his ver- 
dict in the case by a learned and able opinion concerning the law and 
the evidence. 

Amid all his official and public labors, Mr. Sumner has been con- 
stant in his devotion to literature. He published in 1850 two 
volumes of " Orations ;" in 1853, a work on " White Slavery in the 
Barbary States;" and in 1S56, a volume of "Speeches and Ad- 
dresses." Some of his recent speeches in the Senate are as exhaus- 
tive in their treatment of their subjects, as elaborate in finish, as 
abundant in facts, and as copious in details, as ordinary volumes. 
Such, for example, is the great speech in the Senate on " The Ces- 
sion of Russian America to the United States," in which the geog- 
raphy, history, and resources of our newly acquired territory are set 
forth more accurately and fully than in any accessible treatise on the 
subject. 

Mr. Sumner is tall and robust in person. He has regular features, 
which bear the impress of thought and culture. His head is sur- 
mounted by an abundance of black hair, which is but slightly tinged 
with gray. As a speaker he is solemn and impressive in his manner, 
graceful in gesticulation, and deliberate in utterance. The varied 
stores of learning are so much at his command that he draws upon 
them with a frequency which sometimes brings upon him a charge 
of pedantry. By many he is regarded as too theoretical and too 
little practical for a successful statesman. It is his happiness, how- 
ever, to have lived to see many of his theories, once unpopular, 
adopted as the practical principles of the most powerful party in 
the nation. 











' 






JOHN" M. THAYER 




! OHN MILTON THAYER was bom in Bellingham, Massa- 

?J| chusetts, January 24, 1820. He graduated at Brown Uni- 
versity, and studied law. In 1854, he emigrated to Ne- 
braska, and settled there simultaneously with the organization of the 
Territory, selecting Omaha as the place of his residence. 

Indian difficulties shortly after occurring, the Governor organized the 
militia, and appointed Mr. Thayer Brigadier-General, and gave him 
the command of the force. The Legislature, at its ensuing session, 
created the office of Major-General, and elected him as the incumbent. 
He was frequently selected to go as Commissioner to the Indians, 
for the purpose of stopping their hostilities, and, on several occasions, 
commanded expeditions against them. 

From his youth, Mr. Thayer was imbued with the spirit of Anti- 
Slavery, and hence he early espoused the principles and course of 
the Eepublican party. In 1859, he was elected a member of the 
Convention for framing a State Constitution. Though an ardent 
Republican, he received this election from a county strongly Demo- 
cratic — having the highest vote on the ticket. 

In 1860, Mr. Thayer was elected to the higher branch of the 
Territorial Legislature. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, he 
applied immediately to the War Department for authority to raise a 
regiment of volunteers, and was instrumental in rallying the First 
Nebraska Infantry. Of this Regiment he was made Colonel, and 
served with it in Missouri during the first six months of the War. 
His regiment, with others, was selected by General Ealleck to pro- 
ceed to Fort Henry. On reaching that place, General Grant assigned 
to Colonel Thayer command of all the reinforcements which were 



2 JOHN M. THAYER. 

arriving, and sent him down the Tennessee, and up the Cumberland, 
to Fort Donelson, while General Grant himself marched across by 
land. Colonel Thayer was then placed in command of the Second 
Brigade in General Lew Wallace's Division, and was engaged in the 
hardest of the fighting on the last day of the battle. 

At the battle of Shiloh, Colonel Thayer had command of the 
extreme right, and for good conduct received the strong commenda- 
tions of his commanders, and was made Brigadier-General. 

A prominent share in the great struggles of the War seems to 
have fallen to General Thayer. He led one of the storming columns 
at Chickesau Bayou; his horse was shot under him at Arkansas 
Post ; he was through all the seige of ^lcksburg, and was at the first 
and second capture of Jackson, Mississippi. He was afterward 
placed in command of the " Army of the Frontier," and with it 
participated in the battles of Prairie de Ann, Jenkin's Ferry, and 
other engagements. He was made a Brevet Major-General for " dis- 
tinguished services." 

On returning to his State, after the close of the War, General 
Thayer was elected a United States Senator for the term expiring in 
1871. 

Mr. Thayer belongs to that class of legislators who, while not given 
to much speaking, are yet prompt and ready to speak whenever ne- 
eessity or the public service requires it. From his long residence 
near the frontier, and the varied intercourse he lias bad with the In- 
dian tribes, probably no member of the Senate possesses a more ex- 
tensive knowledge of matters pertaining to these savage people than 
General Thayer. Hence his speeches bearing upon the Indian ques- 
tion have a special interest for those less familiar than himself with 
their sentiments and character. We are impressed, as we read and 
ponder these speeches, thai though brief and unpretending, they are, 
however, the words of a man who knows whereof he affirms, and tes- 
tifies of that which be lias seen. kk Mr. President," he says, in one of 
these addresses," I rise simply to correct two misapprehensions of the 
Senator from Maine, [Mr. Morrill,] into which he lias been led. He 

/ t 



JOHN M. THAYER. 3 

asks, where is there an Indian reservation which is not invaded to- 
day by the white people ? Well, I respond to him by stating that 
there are five Indian reservations within the State of Nebraska, be- 
tween which and the whites there has been the most perfect accord 
and friendship for the seven years past, not the slightest interference 
or collision between the Indians upon these reservations and the 
white settlers. That is my answer to his interrogatory. These 
troubles do not arise with the friendly Indians, but with the hostile 
Indians, who are away beyond Nebraska and Kansas, upon the plains, 
whose lands have not been invaded by the whites. Those who have 
committed these outrages and these murders are not the Indians 
whose lands have been interfered with by the whites. They are 
those who have come from their own section of the country 
d( iwn to the two Pacific Railroads, and there is where they are creating 
the difficulty. It is simply a question between civilization and bar- 
barism. They are opposed to those two Pacific Railroads, and that 
is, after all, the real cause of the trouble." 

In another speech, several days afterward, on the same general sub- 
ject, Mr. Thayer remarked as follows : 

" The Indians are opposed to the building of these two Roads 
(Pacific Railroads). There is no mistake about it. I have heard it 
from them myself. The reason they object is, that it cuts in two 
their buffalo range. The buffalo range, in certain seasons of the year, 
extends from away north of Nebraska down toward the Red River, 
and they think the Road will interfere with that. One Indian chief 
expressed his objection in this way : ' We do not object to the horse 
going through our country that goes so,' imitating in his manner the 
galloping of a horse ; ' but,' he added, ' we do object to the horse that 
goes so,' imitating the noise of a steam-engine. That was his ex- 
pressive way of giving utterance to his objection. 

"The difficulty is, that the Indians do not like these Roads; and, 
hence, I have favored this bill, which proposes to open these two 
lines of road by taking the [ndians away, and putting them on reser- 
vations to the north and to the south. * * * 



4 JOHN M. THAYER. 

When the Senate was preparing to proceed with the Impeachment 
Trial, Mr. Hendricks objected to Mr. Wade's being sworn, on the 
ground that being " interested, in view of his possible connection 
with the office, in the result of the proceedings, he was not compe- 
tent to sit as a member of the court." Mr. Thayer spoke in answer 
to this objection, and from his remarks on the occasion, we make the 
following extract : 

" I challenge the honorable Senator from Indiana to point me to one 
iota in the Constitution which recognizes the right of this body to de- 
prive any individual Senator of his vote. JNo matter what opinions 
we may entertain as to the propriety of the honorable Senator from 
Ohio casting a vote on this question, he is here as a Senator, and 
you cannot take away his right to vote except by a gross usurpation 
of power. He is here as a Senator in the possession and exercise of 
every right of a Senator until you expel him by a vote of two-thirds 
of this body. Then he ceases to have those rights, and not till 
then. * * * In courts of law, if objections are made to any one 
sitting upon a jury, and he is excluded, an officer is sent out into the 
streets and the highways to pick up talesmen and bring them in to 
fill up the jury. Can you do that here ? Suppose you exclude the 
honorable Senator from Ohio, can you send an officer of this Senate 
out into the lobbies or into the streets of Washington to bring in a 
man to take his place? By no means. I need not state that. 

" Thus I come back to the proposition that we are a Senate, com- 
posed of constituent members, two from every State, sworn to do 
our duty as Senators of the United States; and when you attempt 
to exclude a Senator from the pert. .nuance of that duty, you assume 
functions which are not known in the Constitution, and cannot for a 
moment be recognized. When you attempt to exercise the power, 
and do exercise it, are you any longer the Senate of the United 
States? The Senate, no other parties or bodies forming any part of 
it. is the only body known to the Constitution of the United States 
for this purpose, and the Senate is composed of two Senators from 
each State." 




THOMAS W. TIPTON. 



>HOMAS W. TIPTON was born at Cadiz, Ohio. August 
8, 1817, and spent his early life on a farm. He graduated 
at Madison College, Pennsylvania, in 1840. He entered 
the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but subsequently 
changed his views of ecclesiastical polity, and became a Congrega- 
tionalist. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1845 
he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, and subsequently for three 
years was in Washington at the head of a division in the General 
Land Office. He then removed to Nebraska, where, in 1860, he was 
a member of the Territorial Council, and was chosen a delegate to 
the Convention to frame a State Constitution. On the breaking out 
of the rebellion he was chosen chaplain of the First Regiment of 
Nebraska Infantry, and served in that capacity during the war. On 
the admission of Nebraska into the Union he was elected a Senator 
in Congress from the new State, and drew the short term, ending in 
1869. °He was subsequently re-elected for the term ending in 1875. 
During the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Tipton was a member of the 
Committee on Public Lands and the Committee on Pensions. He 
introduced a bill, which became a law, extending to the State of 
Nebraska the provisions of an act relating to agricultural colleges, a 
bill for the suppression of Indian hostilities, and several bills for the 
promotion of railroads in the West. He addressed the Senate in 
opposition to a resolution presenting the thanks of Congress to 
George Peabody. In remarks on the supplementary Reconstruction 
bill, he took the ground that " the loyal minority of these States 
should control the destiny of these States," and subsequently in an 
elaborate speech, February 10, 1868, pronounced emphatically in 
favor of negro suffrage in the South. He briefly presented im- 
portant reasons against the abolition of the franking privilege. 



LYMAN TRUMBULL. 



/ 




VMAN TRUMBULL was born in Colchester, Connecticut, 
October 12th, 1813. He was educated at Bacon Academy, 
in his native town, which in those times was one of the 
besrinstitutions of learning in New England. In his sixteenth year 
he became a teacher in a district school ; and at twenty years of age 
went to Georgia, taking charge of an Academy at Greenville in that 
State. While engaged in teaching, he employed his leisure time in 
studying law with a view to preparing himself for the legal 
profession. 

Having been admitted to practice at the bar in Georgia, in 1837 
he removed to Illinois and settled in Belleville, St. Clair County. In 
1840, he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature from 
that county ; and before he had served out his term, he was, in 1841, 
appointed Secretary of State of Illinois. After serving in this office 
for two years, he returned to his profession, and gained an eminence 
therein second to no other lawyer in the State. In 1848, he was 
nominated and elected one of the Justices of the State Supreme 
Court, and, in 1S52, was re-elected for nine years. As a Judge on 
the bench he distinguished himself by great acuteness of discrimina- 
tion, accuracy of judgment, and familiarity with organic and statute 
laws. He resigned his place on the bench in 1S53, and in the suc- 
ceeding year was elected to represent the Belleville District, then 
embracing a wide extent of territory, in Congress; but before tak- 
ing his seat in the House, the Legislature elected him to the Senate 
of the United States for the term of six years from March 4, 1855. 

During the great political contests which attended the passage of 
the Fugitive Sluve Law and the organization of the Territories <>f 
Kansas and Nebraska, Mr. Trumbull, both at home and in the hulls 




E Qg d by ( 



/^Ct^f 



LYMAN T HUM BULL. 2 

of Congress, took a bold stun] against the policy and doctrines of 
the old Democratic party, with which he had been actively identified, 
and espoused the cause of freedom, of which he became one of the 
strongest of champions. lie opposed his colleague, Mr. Douglas, in 
all questions having reference to slavery, and especially in his cele- 
brated "popular sovereignty " plan of settling that question in the 
Territories and future States. With such distinguished ability did 
he contest this question with Mr. Douglas and his friends, that he at 
once gained a national reputation. 

In 1860, he earnestly and ably advocated the election of Abraham. 
Lincoln, his fellow-citizen and friend, to the Presidency. During the 
early part of the next year, just previous to Mr. Lincoln's inaugura- 
tion, and when the war of the rebellion had already virtually com- 
menced, Mr. Trumbull was one of the leaders of the Union party in 
the Senate, and favored prompt and decided measures for the main- 
tenance of the Union. In 1861, Mr. Trumbull was re-elected for a 
second term, and in 1SG7 for a third term in the Senate of the 
United States. 

As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, a posi- 
tion which he has held uninterruptedly since 1861, he framed and 
advocated some of the most important acts which were passed by 
Congress during and since the war. He was one of the first to pro- 
pose the amendment of the Constitution abolishing Slavery in the 
United States, which proposition passed Congress, and was ratified 
by the requisite votes of two-thirds of the States. 

He ably advocated the acts establishing and enlarging the Freed- 
man's Bureau, and eloquently championed the Civil Rights Bill. 
He voted for the acquittal of President Johnson on the Articles of 
Impeachment. 

Senator Trumbull continued his residence at Belleville until 1840, 
when he removed to Alton, and subsequently, in 1S63, to Chicago, 
where he now resides. He is of medium stature, with a cast of 
countenance which marks the man of thought, Lacking the warmth 
.of temperament calculated to win personal friendship, he possesses 
talent- which command universal respect. 



PETER G. YANWINKLE. 



$^||f ETEE G.- VANWINKLE was born in the city of New York, 
September 7, 1808. He received an academical education, 
and entered on the study of law. In 1835 he emigrated to 
what is now West Virginia, and settled in Parkersburg, where he 
engaged in law practice, in which he continued till 1852. He then 
became treasurer and afterwards president of a railroad company. 
He was a member of the Virginia State Constitutional Convention 
of 1850, and in 1861 was a member of the Wheeling Convention, 
assembled to frame a Constitution for the proposed new State of 
West Virginia. He was a member of the Legislature of the new 
State in 1863, and in December, of the same year, was elected to 
the Senate of the United States. 

Mr. Vanwinkle, as a Senator in the Fortieth Congress, served on 
the Committee on Post-offices and Post-roads, and as chairman of the 
Committee on Pensions. Although seldom participating in the de- 
bates of the Senate he was an active and able member of that body. 
He several times addressed the Senate pending the consideration of 
the Tax bill, and the Ohio River Bridge bill. Many of his statements 
in these speeches are of much interest, and evince that their author 
had given diligent attention to the subject which he was discussing. 
Several of his addresses, in presenting various claims for pensions, 
as chairman of the committee on that subject, give evidence of ability 
and sound discretion. In the Impeachment trial, Mr. Vanwinkle 
voted to acquit President Johnson, presenting, in a brief but elabo- 
rate opinion on the case, his reasons for not regarding the offenses 
charged in the various articles as crimes or misdemeanors. His 
Senatorial term ended March, 1860, when he retired from political 
and public life. 

/ 



GEORGE VICKERS. 




'EORGE VICKERS was born in Chestertown, Kent County, 
Maryland, November 19, 1801. After receiving an aca- 
demical education, he was employed in the County Clerk's 
office, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1S32. He was a 
member of the Maryland Electoral College in 1S36, and was a dele- 
gate to the Whig National Convention which assembled in Balti- 
more in 1S52. He declined the appointment of judge tendered him 
by Governors Hicks and Bradford, but accepted that of major-general 
of militia offered him by the former in 1S61. He was a presiden- 
tial elector on the McClellan ticket in 1861, and was a member of 
the Maryland Senate in 1866 and 1867. He was elected a United 
States Senator from Maryland, and took his seat March 11, 1868. 
The impeachment trial of President Johnson commenced two days 
afterwards, and the new Senator watched its progress with intense 
interest. He viewed the transaction as strictly judicial, and in givino- 
his vote of acquittal he presented a written opinion in which he 
argued the question solely as a legal one. His first speech was made 
June 8, 1868, on the bill for the admission of North Carolina, South 
Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama to representation. 
He contended that negroes could not properly be associated with the 
whites in the State or National government, and invoked the Senate 
to deal kindly with the Southern people who had endured so much 
suffering during the war. Subsequently he spoke against the power 
of the general government to incorporate railroad companies in the 
States ; against the proposed Suffrage Amendment to the Constitu- 
tion ; against the admission of'Senator Revels because he had not 
been a citizen of the United States nine years, as required by the 
Constitution, and against the admission of Senator Ames on the 
ground that he had not acquired a legal residence in Mississippi, 
and that his election was by moral coercion of the Legislature. 



BENJAMIN" F. WADE. 

PRESIDENT OF TIIK SEN ATI:. 




N Feeding Hills Parish, Massachusetts, on the 27th of 

October, 1800, was born Benjamin F. Wade, the youngest 

% ?M of ten children. His father was a soldier of the Revolution, 

and fought in every battle from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. His 

mother was the daughter of a Presbyterian clergyman, and was a 

woman of vigorous intellect and great force of character. 

The family was one of the poorest in New England. They had, 
however, among their scanty property a few books, which eventually 
came into Benjamin's possession. He never enjoyed more than seven 
(lays' schooling, yet under the tuition of his mother he soon learned 
to read and write. He read and re-read the few books of the family 
library, and as a boy became better informed than most of his age. 

He was for a time employed as alarm hand on very meagre wages. 
When eighteen years old, thinking lie mighl find something better 
in the West, with a bundle of clothing on his back, and seven dollars 
in his pocket, he started on foot for Illinois. Ho walked as far as 
Ashtabula County, Ohio,'when a fall of snow having impeded his 
progress, he determined to wait for spring to finish his journey. He 
hired out to cut wood in the forest at fifty cents per cord. He spent 
his evenings reading the Bible by the light of the fire on the hearth 
of the log cabin, and in a single winter read through both Old and 
New Testaments. 

When spring came, he was persuaded to farther suspend his jour 
nev to Illinois, by engaging in a summer's work at chopping, logging, 
and grubbing. This was followed by a winter at school-teaching. 
After two years of such employment, ho engaged in driving herd- of 



BENJAMIN F. WADE. 2 

cattle from Ohio to New York. He thus made six trips, the last one 
leaving him in Albany, JSTew York. Here he taught a winter school, 
and in the spring hired himself to shovel on the Erie Canal, in which 
employment he spent the summer — "The only Ameiican I know," 
said Governor Seward, in a speech in the Senate, " who worked with 
a spade and wheel-barrow on that great improvement." 

Having occupied the summer in work on the canal, he taught 
school another winter in Ohio. In the following spring he com- 
menced the study of law with Hon. Elisha Whittlesey. He was soon 
after elected a justice of the peace. After two years he was admitted 
to the bar. He waited another year for his first suit, and from that 
time his success was steady. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney 
for Ashtabula County, a position of great advantage to a young man 
just rising in his profession. 

But Mr. Wade's destined field was politics. He was elected to 
the State Senate, where he took the lead of the Whig minority. He 
aided in abolishing the law for imprisonment for debt. He inaugur- 
ated a war against the "Black Laws" of Ohio. He took a bold 
stand against the admission of Texas into the Union. " So help me, 
God !" he declared, " I will never assist in adding another rod of 
slave territory to this country." 

Mr. Wade having attempted to bring about a repeal of the State 
laws that oppressed the negroes and gave security to slavery in the 
neighboring States, incurred the displeasure of his party friends, who 
left him at home at the next election. 

Time and events having at length brought the people up to Wade's 
position, they again sent him to the Senate against his will. There 
he procured the passage of a bill which founded the Oberlin College, 
" for the education of persons without regard to race or color." He 
led the resistance of Ohio to the resolution adopted by Congress, 
denying the people the right to petition concerning the abolition of 
slavery. He labored to bring the Legislature and the State up to 
the support of John Quincy Adams in Ins fight for the sacred right 
of petition. 



3 BENJAMIN F. WADE. 

In 1847, Mr. Wade was elected President Judge of the Third 
Judicial District. After the session of his court was over for the day, 
Judge Wade sometimes went to the neighboring school-houses and 
made speeches in favor of General Taylor, then a candidate for the 
I Presidency. Since Wade was known far and near as a strong anti- 
1 slavery man, it was thought strange that he did not support Mr. Yan 
I Buren, the candidate of the Liberty party. Some of his friends re- 
monstrated with him for supporting Taylor, a slaveholder. " Taylor 
is a good old Whig," he replied, " and I am not going to stand by 
and see him crucified between two such thieves as Cass and Yan 
Buren." For four years he occupied the bench, and obtained with 
the bar and the people the reputation of a wise and just judge. 

In March, 1851, as he was hearing a cause in court, the firing of a 
cannon in the streets of Akron announced to the public that Mr. 
Wade had been elected United States Senator by the Legislature of 
Ohio. The office had not been sought for by him, nor canvassed for 
by his friends. The arrangements of politicians and the selfishness 
of aspirants were over-ruled by the people in their desire to have 
one who would represent the manhood, the conscience, the progn 88 
of the State. 

When Mr. Wade entered the Senate, he found but few opposed to 
the aggressions of slavery. In 1S56, when the great Kansas contro- 
versy came up, the advocates of slavery were thirty-two against 
thirteen in favor of freedom. Wade showed himself brave against 
all odds and every influence. " I come before the Senate to-day," 
said he, " as a Republican, or, as some prefer to call me, a Black lie- 
publican, for I do not object to the term. I care nothing about the 
name ; I come here especially as the advocate of liberty, instead of 
slavery." 

Mr. Wade has continued a member of the United States Senate, 
by successive re-election, for eighteen years. His Senatorial career 
has been marked by indomitable energy, unfailing courage, and in- 
variable consistency. It has been marked by some acts which 
cannot fail to cause his name to be remembered. He reported fom 



BENJAMIN F. WADE. * 

the Committee on Territories the first provision prohibiting slavery 
in all the Territories of the United States to be henceforth acquired. 
He proposed in the Senate the bill for Negro Suffrage in the District 
of Columbia. 

It was in the days when Republicans in Congress were few, and 
the champions of Slavery were dominant in the councils of the Re- 
public, that Mr. Wade rendered services for the struggling cause of 
liberty that are never to be forgotten. He met the arrogant leaders 
of the South with a bravery that secured their respect, and gained 
friends for his cause. Toombs, the fierce fire-eater of Georgia, once 
said in the Senate, " My friend from Ohio puts the matter squarely. 
He is always honest, outspoken, and straightforward ; and 1 wish to 
God the rest of you would imitate him. He speaks out like a man. 
He says what is the difference, and it is. He means what he says ; 
you don"t. He and I can agree about everything on earth except our 
sable population." 

It was the custom in those days for Northern Senators to yield 
submissively to the insolence of the slaveholders. Mr. Wade had 
too much nerve and independence meekly to accept the situation. 
Soon after he took his seat, a Southerner in debate grossly insulted a 
Free State Senator. As no allusion was made to himself or his State, 
Wade sat still ; but when the Senate adjourned, he said openly, if 
ever a Southern Senator made such an attack on him or Ohio while 
he sat on that floor, he would brand him as a liar. This coming to 
the ears of the Southern men, a Senator took occasion to pointedly 
speak, a few days afterward, of Ohio and her people as negro thieves. 
Instantly Mr. Wade sprang to his feet and pronounced the Senator a 
liar. The Southern Senators were astounded, and gathered round 
their champion ; while the Northern men grouped about Wade. 
A. feeler was put out from the Southern side, looking to retrac- 
tion; but Mr. Wade retorted in his peculiar style, and demanded 
an apology for the insult offered himself and the people he rep- 
resented. The matter thus closed, and a fight was looked upon as 
certain. The next day a gentleman called on the Senator from Ohio, 



5 BENJAMIN F. WADE. 

and asked the usual question touching his acknowledgment of the 

code. 

"I am here " he responded, " in a double capacity. I represent 
the State of Ohio, and I represent Ben. Wade. As a Senator, I am 
opposed to dueling. As Ben. Wade, I recognize the code." 

" My friend feels aggrieved," said the gentleman, " at what you 
said in the Senate yesterday, and will ask for an apology or satis- 
faction." 

" I was somewhat embarrassed," continued Senator Wade, " by my 
position yesterday, as I have some respect for the Chamber. I now 
take this opportunity to say what I then thought ; and you will, if you 
please, repeat it. Your friend is a foul-mouthed old blackguard." 

" Certainly, Senator Wade, you do not wish me to convey such a 
message as that % " 

" Most undoubtedly I do ; and will tell you, for your own benefit, 
this friend of yours will never notice it. I will not be asked fur 
either retraction, explanation, or a fight." 

Next morning Mr. Wade came into the Senate, and proceeding to 
his seat, deliberately drew from under his coat two large pistols, and, 
unlocking his desk, laid them inside. The Southern men looked on 
in silence, while the Northern members enjoyed the fire-eaters' sur- 
prise at the proceeding of the plucky Ohio Senator. No further no- 
tice was taken of the affair of the day before. Wade was not chal- 
lenged, but ever afterward was treated with politeness and consider- 
ation by the Senator who had so insultingly attacked him. 

Mr. Wade's fierce retorts sometimes fell with terrible effect upon 
his adversaries. When he was speaking against the Kansas-Ne- 
braska bill. Mr. Douglas interrupted him with an inquiry designed at 
once to rebuke and embarrass him: "You, Sir, continually compli- 
ment Southern men who support this bill, but bitterly denounce 
Northern men who support it, Why is this ? You say it is a moral 
wron- : vmi say it is a crime. If that be so, is it not as much a 
crime for a Southern man to support it, as for a Northern man to 
do so?" 



BENJAMIN F. WADE. 6 

Mr. Wade. — " No, sir, I say not ! " 

Mr. Douglas.—" The Senator says not. Then he entertains a 
different code of morals from myself and — " 

Mr. "Wade (breaking in, and pointing at Douglas with extended 
arm and forefinger, his face wrinkling with scorn, and contempt and 
rage flashing out of his eyes)—" Tour code of morals ! Youu mor- 
als / My God, I hope so, sir ! " 

A witness of the scene says that the " Giant " was hit in the fore- 
head, and, after standing for a moment, his cheeks as red as scarlet, 
he sank silent into his chair. 

Mr. Wade gained enduring fame by the unanswerable reasoning, 
the powerful oratory, and the undaunted courage with which he 
resisted the extension of slavery against the united might of the 
propogandists of the South and North. 

Near the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Wade was elected 
President pro tempore of the Senate. He was chosen to that office 
at a time when it seemed probable that his election would soon be- 
come an elevation to the Presidential Chair by virtue of the impeach- 
ment and removal of Mr. Johnson. The narrowness of Mr. John- 
son's escape, and the nearness of Mr. Wade's approach to the Presi- 
dency, are among the most curious scenes in recent history. 

As an orator, Senator Wade has little polish, but great force, di- 
rectness, and effect. He is an original thinker, and has much learn- 
ing for one whose advantages were so few. His manners are plain 
and unaffected, his tastes are simple as in his humbler years. At 
home, in Ohio, he lives in a style undistinguished from the substan- 
tial citizens about him. His residence is a plain white frame house, 
hid among the trees and surrounded by ample grounds. 

" There is," says one, " a Puritan grimness in his face, which melts 

into sweetness and tenderness when his sympathies are touched, and 

which is softened away by the humor which wells from his mirthful- 

ness in broad, rich, and original streams." 

14 



WILLA.KD WARNER. 




*T ILLARD WARNER was born in Granville, Ohio, Sep- 



tember 4, 1826, and graduated at Marietta College, Ohio, 
in 1845. He entered the Union army, as Major of the 
76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. During the Atlanta cam- 
paign he served on General Sherman's staff as Assistant Inspector- 
General. In October, 1864, he was appointed Colonel of the 180th 
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was brevetted Brigadier and Major- 
General for meritorious services. He was subsequently elected to 
the Ohio Senate, in which he served two years. Having removed to 
Alabama, he was in July, 1868, elected as a Senator in Congress 
from that State for the remainder of a term ending in 1S71, and was 
admitted to his seat July 25, 1868. He took an active part, for one 
so recently admitted, frequently addressing the Senate on important 
subjects, especially those relating to the Southern States. In Feb- 
ruary, 1869, he spoke on the 15th Amendment, maintaining that the 
question was not merely one of negro suffrage. He said : 

"In our action is bound up the welfare of the present and the com- 
ing millions of our country, and correlated with it are the interests of 
all the sons of men. Let us, then, approach our task solemnly and 
gravely, having in view not only the interests of our present popula- 
tion, but also the well-being of the multitudes who press on our track 
with remorseless tread." * * * 

" The irresistible drift of modern civilization is toward a larger 
and larger enfranchisement of the people, and our end is a pure de- 
mocracy. Let us proceed to it with firm and decisive steps. Then 
we will have no disfranchised, disaffected, clamoring classes, always 
ready and ripe for tumult, rebellion, and revolution. Then the will 
of the people, legally and peacefully expressed, will have a weight 
and a power which will command and insure universal acquiescence 
and obedience." 



ADCXNUAH S. WELCH. 




*^ 



gj DONLJAH S. WELCH was bora in the State of Connec- 
ticut, in 1821. He graduated at the University of Mich- 
tMMol ig an 5 ar *d afterwards became one of its professors. He 
was for fifteen years at the head of the Normal School of Michigan. 
Soon after the breaking out of the rebellion he entered the Union 
army, in which he served until the close of the war. He subse- 
quently settled in Florida, and gave efficient aid in the Reconstruc- 
tion of that State. He was elected a Senator of the United States 
from Florida, and took his seat July 2, 1S68, for the term ending 
March 3, 1869. February 8, 1869, he delivered in the Senate a 
brief but logical and forcible argument in favor of the Suffrage 
Amendment, in which he said of the Southern negro : " Intellectu- 
ally and socially below the dominant class, but equal, at least, to the 
poorer class of southern whites, he is, if we except the southern 
loyalists, who are limited in number, infinitely superior to them all 
as a patriot ; and I weigh my words well when I say that if his igno- 
rance were as rayless as the darkest, midnight, if he never had a 
dozen thoughts in all his life and never changed their course, his 
steady, unflinching love of this Union would render him a far safer 
depositary of the right of suffrage than he who has compassed all 
knowledge and all science, and hates his country." 

In a brief speech on the Civil Appropriation bill, March 2, 1869, 
he protested against " a distinction being made between male and 
female clerks, as to the value of labor," and on the same day ably 
maintained the value and importance of the Department of Educa- 
tion. At the close of his term in the Senate, Mr. Welch accepted 
the presidency of the Iowa State Agricultural College. 

2^3 



WILLIAM PISrCKSTEY WHTTE- 




?ILLIAM PINCKNEY WHYTE was born in Baltimore, 
Maryland, August 9, 1824. He was educated by a pri- 
vate tutor, and spent nine months in the counting-room 
of George Peabody. He graduated at the Harvard Law School in 
1845, was admitted to the bar, and practised in his native city. In 
1847 he was elected to the Legislature of Maryland. In 1851 he 
was a Democratic candidate for Congress, and was defeated by 119 
votes. He was elected comptroller of the State of Maryland in 1853. 
He was again a candidate for Congress in 1857, and contested the 
seat before the House, which decided against him by a vote of 100 to 
105: He was appointed United States Senator from Maryland in 
the place of Reverdy Johnson, resigned, and took his seat July 14, 
186S, for the term which ended March 4, 1869. Mr. Whyte's first 
speech in the Senate was made on the occasion of the reading of 
President Johnson's last annual message. The Secretary of the 
Senate having read a small part of the message, Mr. Conness moved 
that its further reading be dispensed with as a " tirade against the 
Congress of the United States," and " in all respects an offensive 
document." Mr. Whyte opposed the motion, and urged upon the 
Senate the duty of giving " respectful attention to the views and sen- 
timents of those who may differ with regard to the manner in which 
the Government should be conducted." He opposed a resolution 
disapproving and condemning the proposition in the President's 
message relating to the public debt, and said that although he con- 
curred in no proposition to repudiate the public debt or to abate it, 
he should not enter into a clamor against the President of the United 
States because he entertained sentiments different from his own. 

"if 




A& ;i . ajju^xX 



(L^-i 






WAITMAN T. AVILLEY. 




rAITMAN T. WILLEY was bom in the county of Mon- 
galia, Virginia, October 18, 1811. His birthplace was a 
" log cabin, just twenty feet square." 

As soon as the little boy could well walk, he was put to work upon the 
farm until he was twelve years old — receiving, meanwhile, eight or 
ten months of schooling in a country school-house. From twelve to 
sixteen years of age — with the exception of tuition at a grammar 
school for two months — he continued at hard work upon his father's 
£irm, at the end of which time he went to Madison College. He was 
distinguished in college by industry as a student, and success as a 
scholar, and at the end of his lour years' course was graduated with 
the highest honors of his class, and was pronounced by the trustees 
of the institution as " well entitled to that honor." 

In the following year, Mr. Willey — being yet under twenty-one 
years of age — commenced the study of law at "Wellsbury, Virginia. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1S33. As a lawyer he was successful, 
and soon secured a good and reputable practice. In 1840, he was a 
candidate for the State legislature. He was also on the Whig electo- 
ral ticket, and made forty speeches in behalf of his candidate. In 
1841, in one and the same month, he was made Clerk of Mongalia 
County Court and of the Supreme Court. In 1850, he was elected 
a member of the Convention for re-forming the constitution of 
Virginia. In this Convention, Mr. Willey sustained a very prom- 
inent part. His speeches, which were somewhat numerous, were 
of decided ability, and were highly complimented, even by those 
whose views differed from his own. ''lie is,'* writes one of these, 
"a man of fine attainments, extensive reading, and high moral 

lor 



2 WAITMAN T. WILLEY. 

character; a bold thinker, an energetic and earnest speaker." 
His speech in this Convention, in favor of representation based 
upon suffrage, was deemed the best that was delivered on 
that side of this important question. In concluding this great 
speech, haying alluded in glowing terms to the progress of popular 
liberty in the world, he adds this noble peroration : 

" And yet, in the midst of all this, in the middle of the nineteenth 
century, beneath the noontide effulgence of this great principle of 
popular supremacy, a voice is heard in old Virginia, rising from al- 
most the spot where the clarion voice of Henry awoke a nation to 
freedom, when he exclaimed, ' Give me liberty or give me death ' — 
even here, where we should take off our shoes, for the earth on which 
we walk is holy — bearing in its consecrated bosom the remains of 
George Mason and Thomas Jefferson, the one the author of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, the other of the Virginia Bill of Rights — 
even here, a demand is made by honorable gentlemen to give superior 
political power to the property-holder, and virtually invest goods and 
chattels with the prerogative of legislating upon the rights and liber- 
ties of a vast majority of the people of this Commonwealth ! I trust 
this can never take place." 

In 1852, Mr. Willey was a Whig candidate for Congress, with no 
expectation of election, but to bring out a full Whig vote for General 
Scott. 

At the State Convention of the Whig party, February 10, 1858, 
Mr. Willey was nominated as a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. 
Alluding to this nomination, the Richmond Whig represented Mr. 
Willey as " one of the ablest and most eloquent men in Virginia/' 
and "universally esteemed and popular." The Baltimore Patriot 
added: "Astronger name has never been presented to the freemen 
of Virginia. The name of Waitman T. Willey is a household word 
throughout the entire Northwest. A distinguished lawyer, witharep- 
itation without a stain, his name upon the ticket Becures at Least 
five thousand votes that might have been considered doubtful." 

In the canvass, Mr. Willey addressed the people daily until the 

u 



WAITMAN T. WILLEY. 3 

election, and was everywhere acknowledged as a statesman, a patriot, 
an honest man, and an exemplary Christian. In the election he 
carried his own county, although his ticket ran behind. 

In 1860, Mr. Willey, as might be expected, was exerting himself 
continually for the Union, and to strengthen the union sentiment of 
the State. In January, he published a long article for distribution 
on the general subject of disunion and secession. "Why, therefore, 
he writes, " should we madly rush into the perils of disunion ? Our 
country was never more thrifty and prosperous, and what but the na- 
tional Union secured to us all this happiness and prosperity % I shud- 
der whenever I think of disunion. It does appear to me that some 
of our leaders, like the incendiary Erostratus, are aspiring after the 
infamous immortality which must eternally be attached to the names 
of the destroyers of the fairest fabric of national government ever 
il.\ ised by man, or bestowed on him by heaven." 

In the winter of 1860-61, Mr. AVilley was elected to a seat in the 
Richmond Convention, which resulted in the secession of Virginia. 
Referring to this Convention, he writes: "If the journal and pro- 
ceedings of that body ever come to light, they will show T how faith- 
fully I resisted that terrible disaster." 

In July, 1861, he was elected by the reorganized legislature of 
Virginia, sitting at Wheeling, to the United States Senate, and took 
his seat in that body during the special session ' of Congress then in 
progress. Also, in the fall of this year, he was a member of the 
Constitutional Convention assembled at Wheeling, to ordain a con- 
stitution for the proposed new State of West Virginia. 

The attitude of Mr. Willey in the United States Senate, at this 
mosl trying crisis, was eminently just, enlightened, and patriotic, and 
worthy of Virginia in it> wiser and better days. 

"We may, with equal confidence," said he, "challenge a more 
minute examination of the policy and administration of the Genera) 

. i eminent affecting the State- in rebellion. And here I do but 
allege what the record.-- of the country will amply attest, when I say 

that in the bestowment of official patronage and emolumenl and po>i- 

2^ 



4 WAITMAN T. WILLEY. 

tion m every branch of the Government, the South has ever enjoyed 
an eminently liberal proportion of favor. The journals and acts of 
Congress will verify the assertion that every important measure of 
national policy has either originated with Southern statesmen, or has 
been made, sooner or later, essentially to conform to the demands of 
Southern sentiment. This is a broad assertion, but it is true. The 
South has always exercised a controlling influence in the councils of 
the Republic. She has had more than an equal share of Presidents ; 
she has had more than a fair proportion of appointments in the Cab- 
inet ; the Supreme Court has been adorned with a full quota of her 
eminent jurists; the corps diplomatique has had no just cause of 
complaint for the want of representatives from south of Mason and 
Dixon's line; and the glorious annals of our army and navy attest 
on every page the valor and skill of Southern chieftains." 

After unfolding the Southern conspiracy, he said : " Sir, truth will 
ere long strip these conspirators naked before the world, and the 
people whom they have so cruelly misled will rise up and curse them. 
History — impartial history — will arraign and condemn them to uni- 
versal contempt. It will hold them responsible before man and God 
for the direful consequences already brought upon the country, and 
for the evils yet to come — for the desolations of war, its pillage and 
rapine, and blood, and carnage, and crime, and widowhood, and 
orphanage, and all its sorrows and disasters." 

Mr. Willey, then and always, insisted upon the impossibility of 
dismemberment. " Sir," said he, " this Union cannot be dissolved. 
Nature and providence forbid it. Our rivers, and lakes, mountains, 
and the whole geographical conformation of the country rebuke the 
treason that would sever them. Our diversities of climate and soil 
and staple production do but make each section necessary to the other. 
Science and art have annihilated distance, and brought the whole 
family of States into close propinquity and constant and easy inter- 
course. We are one people in language, in law, in religion, and 
destiny. ' Whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.' 
The past is glorious; the future shall he sublime." 



WAITMAN T. WILLEY. 5 

Mr. Willey, at the same session of the Senate, in an able and ap- 
propriate speech, gave a full and minute history of the new State 
matter, on the application of West Virginia for admission into the 
Union as a State. He met every objection, satisfied every reasonable 
doubt, and secured an early, favorable, and unanimous report from 
the committee, its triumphant and speedy passage through the Sen- 
ate, and eventually through the House, until it received the sanction 
of the President, 

The new State having been admitted, Mr. Willey in August, 1863, 
was elected one of the United States Senators from West Virginia. 
lie drew the short term of two years, before the expiration of which 
he was re-elected for the term ending in 1871. 

Thus far we have contemplated Mr. Willey in scarcely more than a 
single phase of his character, while to pause here would leave this 
sketch but half completed. Not only has he sustained an eminent 
reputation as a lawyer and statesman, but he has all along stood be- 
fore the public as a Christian and a philanthropist. The very begin- 
ning of his professional life demonstrates the transparent integrity of 
his character. At thirty years of age, he writes : 

" I was poor when I started ; I am comparatively poor still. I was 
honest when I started, and, thank God, I am honest still. I would 
not give the consciousness of honesty and integrity for all the honors 
of ill-gotten gain." Elsewhere he adds, on occasion of somewhat 
straitened circumstances : " Poverty is far more desirable than ill- 
gotten wealth. 1 will live honest, if I die poor. I will live anhon- 
orable man. if V die in obscurity. I would not exchange the appro- 
bation of a good conscience lor the hoards of Croesus. I would not 
relinquish the pleasure and exalted happiness of conscious integrity 
for the crown of an emperor." 

Mr. Willey La an active member of the Methodist Church, and his 
church connection seems early to have been with him a matter of 
gratulatiou and thanksgiving : while his religious experience, so far as 
it has beeD apparenl to the eve of strangers, hears the marks of 
deep sincerity and genuineness. In 1853, we find him delivering a 

I* 






6 "WHITMAN T. WILLEY. 

series of lectures on the " Spirit and Progress " of that branch of the 
church of which he is a member; wherein, among other things, he 
discusses the importance of an earnest faith in connection with the 
performance of Christian duty. Alluding tu these lectures, the pub- 
lic prints alleged, and doubtless with much truth, that " he would till 
a pulpit with no ordinary ability." 

The cause of Temperance has ever held a warm place in the affec- 
tions of Mr. Willey. He was early a member of various associations, 
here and there, for the promotion of this great enterprise. In 1S53, 
he was, by the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of West 
Virginia, elected their lecturer on "Temperance and Legal Prohibi- 
tion." 

We find him also deeply interested in Sabbath-schools, and he is 
himself a Sabbath-school teacher. So likewise has the great mis- 
sionary enterprise always enlisted his sympathies, commended itself to 
his judgment, and called forth his eloquence. Thus, he is not one of 
those lights that are hid under a bushel. At Washington, Mr. Willey 
has preserved his consistency. He has been here the friend of tem- 
perance, missions, the Sabbath-school, and every good work. The 
National Intelligencer says of him: " He devotes his hours of leis- 
ure from legislative duties in furtherance of good objects here. His 
late speech at the Foundry Church on Sunday afternoon on Sunday- 
schools, will not soon fade from the mind of anyone present on the 
occasion." 

More effective still seems to have been an address, delivered at 
Philadelphia, on a missionary occasion, when, in the course of his 
speech, he read various extracts from the highest authorities, illustrat- 
ing the elevating power of the Grospel upon heathen nations. lie fur- 
ther insisted that it was the best civilizing agency that was ever em- 
ployed — that Magna Charta was not found at Runnymede, nor the 
Declaration of Independence nt Philadelphia; but that both of these 
immortal documents were traceable to the Bible. 










L^ 



GEOEGE H. WILLIAMS. 



JJP&EOEGE II. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, 
V-^ New York, March 23, 1823. He received an academical 
J^C education in Onondaga County, and studied law. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1544, and immediately emigrated to Iowa. In 
1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of Iowa, and 
in 1S52 he was a presidential elector. In 1852 he received from 
President Pierce the appointment of Chief-Justice of the Territory 
of Oregon, and was re-appointed by President Buchanan in 1S57, 
but resigned. He was a member of the Convention which formed a 
Constitution for the State of Oregon. 

When Oregon was under the absolute control of the Democratic 
party, Judge Williams declared himself a Republican, and did much 
to promote the ultimate triumph of that party in his State. In 1864 
he was elected a United States Senator from Oregon for the term 
ending in 1871. He at once took an active part in the important 
legislation of the Thirty-ninth Congress. On the first day of the 
second session of this Congress he brought before the Senate a bill 
to " regulate the tenure of offices," which was referred to a committee, 
and subsequently, with modifications, passed over the President's veto. 
On the 4th of February, 1867, Mr. Williams introduced " A bill to 
provide for the more efficient government of the insurrectionary 
States," which was referred to the Committee on Reconstruction. 
It was subsequently reported and passed as the "Military Recon- 
struction Act." He has served with much ability on the Committee 
on the Judiciary, and as Chairman of the Committee on Private 
Land Claims. 

As a Speaker Mr. Williams is deliberate, logical, and impressive. 
He is a wise, comprehensive, and practical statesman, having a large 
ami increasing influence in the Senate. 



HENRY WILSON. 




'ENRY WILSON was bora at Fannington, N". II., Feb- 
ruary 16, 1812, of poor parentage. He was early appren- 
ticed to a farmer in his native town, with whom he contin- 
ued eleven years, during which period his school privileges, at dif- 
ferent intervals, amounted to about one year. He early formed a 
taste for reading, which he eagerly indulged on Sundays and even- 
ings by fire-light and moon-light. Thus, in the course of his eleven 
years' apprenticeship, he read about 1,000 volumes — mainly of his- 
tory and biography. 

On coming of age, young Wilson left Farmington, and with all his 
possessions packed upon his back, walked to Natick, Mass., and hired 
himself to a shoemaker. Having learned the trade, and labored 
nearly three years, he returned to New Hampshire for the purpose of 
securing an education. His educational career, however, was sud- 
denly arrested by the insolvency of the man to whom he had entrust- 
ed bis money, and in 183S he returned to Natick to resume his trade 
of shoeniaking. 

WilsOD was now twenty-six years of age, and up to this period his 
life had been mainly devoted to labor. It was in allusion to this that 
when, in 1858, he replied on the floor of Congress to the famous 
"mudsill" speech of Gov. Hammond of South Carolina, he gave ut- 
terance to these eloquent words: 

"Sir I am the son of a hireling manual laborer, who, with the 
frosts of seventy winters on his brow, 'lives by daily labor.' I, too, 
have 'lived by daily labor.' I, too, have been a -hireling manual la- 
borer/ Poverty cast it- dark and chilling shadow over the home of 





&?c 



HENRY WILSON. 2 

my childhood ; and want was sometimes there — an unbidden guest. 
At the age of ten years — to aid him who gave me being in keeping 
the gaunt specter from the hearth of the mother who bore me — I left 
the home of my boyhood, and went forth to earn my bread by 
' daily labor.' " 

From his youth, Mr. Wilson seems to have been deeply and perma 
nently imbued with the spirit of hostility to Slavery, and few men 
have dealt more numerous or heavy blows against the institution. 
His political career commenced in 1840. During this year he made 
upwards of sixty speeches in behalf of the election of Gen. Harrison. 
In the succeeding rive years, he was three times elected a Representa- 
tive, and twice a Senator, to the Massachusetts legislature. Here his 
stern opposition to Slavery was at once apparent, and in 1845 he was 
selected, with the poet Whittier, to bear to Washington the great anti- 
slavery petition of Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas. 
In the same year he introduced in the legislature a resolution declar- 
ing the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the further extension 
and longer continuance of Slavery in America, and her fixed deter 
ruination to use all constitutional and lawful means for its extinction. 
His speech on this occasion was pronounced by the leading anti-sla- 
very journals to be the fullest and most comprehensive on the Slavery 
question that had yet been made in any legislative body in the coun- 
try. The resolution was adopted by a large majority. 

.Mr. Wilson was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 
1818, and on the rejection of the anti-slavery resolutions presented 
to that body, he withdrew from it, and was prominent in the organi- 
zation of the Free Soil party. In the following year he was chosen 
chairman of the Free Soil State Committee of Massachusetts — a post 
which In' rilled during four years. In 1850 he was again a member 
-it' the State legislature: and in 1851 and 1852 was a member of the 
Senate, and president of that body. He was also president of the 
Free Soil National Con rention at Pittsburg in 1852, and chairman of 
tin- National Committee. He was the Free Soil candidate for Con- 
gress in 1852. In 1853 and 1854 he was an unsuccessful candidate 

3 



3 HENRY WILSON. 

foi Governor of Massachusetts. In 1853 lie was an active and influ- 
ential member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. In 
1855, was elected to the United States Senate to till the vacancy 
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Everett. 

Mr. Wilson took his seat in the Senate in February, 1855, and, by 
a -,-ote nearly unanimous, has been twice re-elected to that office. As 
a Senator, he has been uniformly active, earnest, faithful, prominent, 
and influential, — invariably evincing an inflexible and fearless opposi- 
tion to Slavery and the slave-power. In his very first speech, made 
a few davs after entering the Senate, he announced for himself and 
his anti-slavery friends their uncompromising position. k " We mean, 
sir," said he, " to place in the councils of the Nation men who, in the 
words of Jefferson, have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility 
to every kind of oppression over the mind and body of men." This 
was the key-note of Mr. Wilson's career in the Senate from that day 
to this. 

In the spring of 1856 occurred the assault upon Mr. Sumner by 
Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina. Mr. AVilson— whose fear- 
lessness is equal to his firmness and consistency — denounced this act 
as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly." These words, uttered on the 
floor of the Senate, drew forth a challenge from Mr. Brooks, which 
was declined by Wilson in terms so just, dignified, and manly, as to 
secure the warm approval of all good and right-minded people. 

At the commencement of the rebellion, the Senate assigned to 
Mr. Wilson the Chairmanship of the Military Committee. In view 
of his protracted experience as a member of this committee, joined 
with his great energy and industry, probably no man in the Senate 
was more completely qualified for this most important post. In this 
committee originated most of the Legislation for raising, organizing, 
and governing the armies, while thousands of nominations of officers 
of all grades were referred to it. The labors of Mr. Wilson, as 
chairman of the committee, were immense. Important legislation 
affecting the armies, and the thousands of nominations, could not 
but excite the liveliest interest of officers and their friends ; and they 



HENRY WILSON. 4 

ever freely visited Lim, consulted with, and wrote to him. Private 
soldiers, too, ever felt at liberty to visit him, or write to him concern- 
ing their affairs. Thousands did so, and so promptly did he attend 
to their needs that they called him the " Soldier's Friend." 

As clearly as any man in the country, Mr. Wilson, at the com- 
mencement of the rebellion, discerned the reality and magnitude of 
the impending conflict. Hence, at the fall of Fort Sumter, when 
President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men, the clear-sighted Sen- 
ator advised that the call should be for 300,000 ; and immediately in- 
duced the Secretary of War to double the number of regiments 
assigned to Massachusetts. In the prompt forwarding of these troops 
Mr. Wilson was specially active. Throughout that spring, and until 
the meeting of Congress, July 4th, he was constantly occupying him- 
self at Washington, aiding the soldiers, working in the hospitals, and 
preparing the necessary military measures to be presented to the na- 
tional legislature. 

Congress assembled ; and, on the second day of the session, Mr. 
Wilson introduced several important bills relating to the military 
wants of the country, one of which was a bill authorizing the employ- 
ment of 500,000 volunteers for three years. Subsequently Mr. Wil- 
son introduced another bill authorizing the President to accept 500,- 
000 volunteers additional to those already ordered to be employed. 
During this extra session, Mr. Wilson, as Chairman of the Military 
Committee, introduced other measures of great importance relating to 
the appointment of army officers, the purchase of arms and muni- 
tions of war, and increasing the pay of private soldiers, — all of 
which measures were enacted. In fact, such was his activity and ef- 
ficiency in presenting and urging forward plans for increasing and 
organizing the armies necessary to put down the rebellion, that Gen- 
eral Scott declared of Mr. Wilson that he " had done more work in 
that short session than all the chairmen of the military committees 
had done for the last twenty years." 

After the defeat at Pull Run, Mr. Wilson was earnestly solicited by 
Mr. Cameron, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Chase, to raise a regiment of in- 



5 HENRY WILSON. 

fantry, a company of sharp-shooters, and a battery of artillery. Ac- 
cordingly, returning to Massachusetts, he issued a stirring appeal 
to the young men of the State, addressed several public meetings, 
and in forty days he succeeded in rallying 2,300 men. He was com- 
missioned colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment, and with his regi- 
ment, a company of sharp-shooters, and the third battery of artillery, 
he returned to Washington as colonel ; and afterwards, as aid on the 
staff of General McClellan, Mr. Wilson served until the beginning 
of the following year, when pressing duties in Congress forced him 
to resign his military commission. 

Returning to his seat in the Senate, Mr. Wilson originated and 
carried through several measures of great importance to the interests 
of the army and the country. Among these was the passage of bills 
relating to courts-martial, allotment certificates, army-signal depart- 
ment, sutlers and their duties, the army medical department, en- 
couragement of enlistments, making free the wives and children 
of colored soldiers, a uniform system of army ambulances, increas- 
ing still further the pay of soldiers, establishing a national mili- 
tary and naval asylum for totally disabled officers and men of the 
volunteer forces, encouraging the employment of disabled and dis- 
charged soldiers, securing to colored soldiers equality of pay, and 
other wise and judicious provisions. 

Invariably true and constant in his sympathies for the down- 
trodden and oppressed, Mr. Wilson never once forgot the slave, for 
whose freedom and elevation he had consecrated his time and energies 
for more than a quarter of a century. He actively participated in 
the measures culminating in the anti-slavery amendment to the Consti- 
tution. He introduced the bill abolishing Slavery in the District of 
Columbia, by which more than three thousand slaves were made free, 
and Slavery made for ever impossible in the capital of the Nat t< >n. He 
introduced a provision, which became a law, May 21, 1862, "provid- 
ing that persons of color in the District of Columbia should be sub- 
ject to the same laws to which white persons were subject; that 
they should be tried for offenses against the laws in the same manner 



HENRY WILSON. Q 

as white persons were tried ; and, if convicted, be liable to the same 
penalty, and no other, as would be inflicted upon white persons for 
the same crime." He introduced the amendment to the Militia Bill 
of 1795, which made negroes a part of the militia, and providing for 
the freedom of all such men of color as should be called into the ser- 
vice of the United States, as well as the freedom of their mothers, 
wives, and children. This, with one or two other measures of a kin- 
dred character, introduced by Mr. Wilson, and urged forward 
through much and persistent opposition, resulted in the freedom of 
nearly 100,000 slaves in Kentucky alone. 

After the close of the war, Mr. Wilson was no less active and in- 
fluential in procuring legislation for the suitable reduction of the army 
than he had been in originating measures for its creation. Making an 
extended tour through the Southern States, he delivered numerous 
able and instructive addresses on political and national topics. 

He was among the first to declare himself in favor of General 
Grant as the Republican candidate for the Presidency. After the 
nomination, Mr. Wilson entered with great zeal into the canvass, and 
made some of the ablest speeches of the campaign. 

Amid the pressure of public duties, Mr. Wilson has found time 
for literary pursuits. He is the author of a " History of the Anti- 
Slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses,"' 
and " History of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty-ninth 
Congress." 

In his personal character Mr. Wilson is without reproach. He 
possesses purity as stainless as when he entered politics, and integrity 
as unimpeachable as when first elected to office. He is one of the most 
practical of statesmen, and one of the most skillful of legislative 
tacticians. His forte as a Senator is hard work — the simple and effi- 
cient means by which he has arisen from humble origin to his present 
high position. 

15 






RICHARD YATES. 



C-& * OME who were not soldiers in the field, became conspicu- 
Jgf) ous for their talents and patriotism amid the emergencies 
*5& of the recent civil war. Prominent among these was 
Richard Yates of Illinois. He was born in Warsaw, Gallatin County, 
Kentucky, in 1818. In 1831 he removed with his father to Illinois, 
and settled in Springfield. He studied for one year in Miami Univer- 
sity, Ohio, and subsequently entered Illinois College, where he 
graduated in 1838, the first graduate in any Western college. He 
subsequently studied law with Colonel John J. Hardin, who fell at 
the head of his regiment in the battle of Buena Yista. Having 
l.een admitted to the bar, Mr. Yates settled in the beautiful city of 
Jacksonville, Illinois, which has since been his home. In 1842 he 
was elected to the State Legislature, and served until 1S50. 

In 1850 he was nominated by a Whig Convention as a candidate 
for Congress, and was elected. In March, 1851, he took his seat in 
the House of Representatives, the youngest member of that body. 
A change was soon after made in his district, which, it was supposed. 
would secure a majority to the opposite party, yet he was re-elected 
over Mr. John Calhoun, a popular Democratic leader. 

The district represented by Mr. Yates included the early home of 
Senator 1 )ouglas, where lie had taught school, and commenced the 
practice of law. When Mr. Douglas became the author and cham- 
pion of "Squatter Sovereignty" as applied to the territori a of Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, his old friends warmly espoused the doctrine, 
partly through local pride and personal attachment to its author. The 
consequence was that, in 1854, Mr. Yates, who had oppo ed the "Ke- 
braska Bill," was defeated as a candidate for re-election to Congress, 




Vty', 




o/^^ 






RICHARD YATES. 2 

He subsequently devoted himself for several years to the practice 
of his profession and to the duties of president of a railroad. This 
interval of private life is looked back upon by himself and his friends 
as the happiest and most prosperous period of his career. Living in 
the midst of a community the most moral aud intellectual of any in 
the West, surrounded by a young and interesting family to whose 
happiness he was devoted, and by whom he was ardently beloved, he 
passed a few years, which were the happiest of his life. 

His family and near personal friends were reluctant to have Mr. 
1 ates enter again upon political life, but his patriotic impulses and 
his ambition to mingle in more stirring scenes, induced him to accept 
the nomination for Governor of Illinois in 1SG0. He had long been 
a devoted personal and political friend of Mr. Lincoln, and most 
gladly threw the power of his eloquence and the weight of his influ- 
ence to promote his elevation to the presidential chair. As both the 
leading candidates for the presidency were citizens of Illinois, the 
contest in that State was especially interesting and exciting. The 
result, however, could not be doubtful, and Kichard Yates was in- 
augurated as Governor of Illinois at Springfield a few weeks before 
Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in Washington. 

The inaugural address of Governor Yates was a most eloquent 
protest against the gigantic treason of South Carolina and other 
seceding States. Freshly crowned with the suffrages of a great State, 
his voice was heard throughout the Union as a truthful utterance of 
the people of the Northwest. "On the question of the Union of 
these States," said he, " all our people will be a unit. The foot of 
tlic traitor has never yet blasted the green sward of Illinois. All the 
running waters of the Northwest are waters of freedom and Union. 
and come what will, as they glide to the great Gulf, they will ever, 
by the ordinance of '87 and by the higher ordinance of Almighty 
God, bear only free men and free tvade upon their bosoms, or their 
channels will be tilled with the comingled blood of traitors, cowards, 
and slaves ! " 

The rebellion soon assumed proportions more immense, and the 



3 RICHARD YATES. 

eloquent utterances of Governor Yates were put to a practical test. 
On the 15th of April, 1861, the Secretary of War issued an order 
requiring the Governor of Illinois to contribute six regiments to make 
up the force of 75,000 men called out by the President's first procla- 
mation. 

On the day the Governor received the call of the War Department, 
he issued a proclamation for a special session of the Legislature to 
provide the sinews of war. 

"Within ten days after the proclamation of Governor Tates was 
published, more than ten thousand men had uttered their services. 
The work of enlistment still went on, and disappointment was every- 
where expressed that the services of more men could not be accepted. 

Cairo being a point of great strategic importance, situated at the 
confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi, and commanding both rivers, 
it was deemed important that it should at once be possessed and 
fortified by a Federal force. On the 19th of April Governor Yates 
ordered General Swift, of the State Militia, to take possession of 
Cairo. Forty-eight hours after the reception of this order, that 
officer left Chicago with four six-pounders and 495 men. On the 
morning of the 23d this force took possession of Cairo, which proved 
a most valuable military position during the war. It was fortunate 
for the country that this movement was made so promptly. A brief 
delay might have enabled the enemy to carry out their cherished pur- 
pose of waging the war upon Northern soil. 

The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were then thronged with steam- 
boats engaged in the " Southern trade," and laden to the water's edge 
with Cincinnati dry goods, Northern produce, and Galena lead. 
The occupation of Cairo enabled Governor Yates to do a service to 
the Union by stopping this " aid and comfort" to the rebellion. The 
Governor having received information that the steamers C. E. JJilf- 
raan and John D. Perry were about to leave St. Louis with military 
stores, he inaugurated the blockade of the Mississippi by telegraph- 
ing to Colonel Prentiss, commanding at Cairo, "Stop said boats, and 
seize all arms and munitions." The command was promptly and 

7 V 



RICHARD YATES. 4 

successfully obeyed, and all the strength which the commerce of the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers would have given to the rebel cause was 
at once cut oft". 

The War Department required but six regiments of soldiers from 
Illinois, and two hundred companies were ready and eager to be 
accepted. Governor Yates urged and finally secured the acceptance 
of four additional regiments. The disasters of the summer of 1861 
aroused the General Government to a sense of the real danger of the 
country, and the necessity of a large army for putting down the 
rebellion. 

Illinois had nobly responded to the enlarged demands. By the 
close of 1SG1 Governor Tates had sent to the field more than forty- 
three thousand men, and had in camps of instruction seventeen thou- 
sand more. 

President Lincoln having on the 6th of July, 18G2, called for three 
hundred thousand additional volunteers, Governor Yates replied : 
" Illinois, already alive with beat of drum and the tramp of new 
recruits, will respond to your call." 

To the honor of Illinois it is to be recorded, that in the busiest 
sea Mm of the year, only eleven days were required to enlist more 
than fifty thousand men for the service of the country. 

When the time arrived for the election of members for the Gen- 
eral Assembly for 1863-4, there were at least one hundred thousand 
voters of Illinois absent from the State, in the service of the country. 
The consequence was the election of a Legislature with a majority 
opposed to the war for putting down the rebellion. It was in vain 
that the Governor recommended measures calculated to sustain and 
reinforce the soldiers of Illinois already in the field ; in vain that he 
pleaded the necessity of providing and appropriating means for sus- 
taining the financial and military credit of the State. The Legisla- 
ture was not possessed of the patriotic impulses which moved the 
Governor and those who had responded to his call. Their time was 
wasted in unprofitable attention to other interests than those of the 
country in the great emergency which was upon her. 

2 7 / 



5 RICHARD YATES. 

In June, 18G3, a disagreement having occurred between the two 
houses as to the time of final adjournment, the Governor, in the ex- 
ercise of a power placed in his hands by the constitution, prorogued 
the General Assembly to the 31st of December, 1864, the day when 
its existence would terminate by law. 

The people approved this brave and patriotic movement of their 
Governor, and in the following year elected a Legislature in sympa- 
thy with the country, and in harmony with the soldiers who were 
fighting her battles. 

Tins Legislature elected Kichard Tates to the Senate of the United 
States — a suitable reward to one whose ability and patriotism had 
contributed so largely to the honor of Illinois. During his adminis- 
tration a peaceful agricultural State, with scarcely a professional 
soldier within her limits, had grown to be one of the mightiest mili- 
tary commonwealths in history. Her army of two hundred and fifty 
thousand men, raised during the administration of Governor Yates, 
from the farms and shops of Illinois, was unsurpassed in effectiveness 
and valor. It was partly owing to the pride which the Governor 
took in the advancement of the soldiers of his State that so many of 
them had risen to high and distinguished rank as officers of the 
army. With honest pride the Governor said in his final message: 
"In response to calls for troops the State stands pre-eminently in the 
lead am >ng her loyal sisters, and every click of the telegraph heralds 
tin' perseverance of Illinois generals and the indomitable courage and 
bravery of Illinois sons in every engagement of the war. The his- 
tory of the war is brilliant with recitations of the skill and powers of 
our general, field, staff, and line officers. The li>t of promotions from 
the field ami staff officers of our regiments to lieutenant and major- 
generals for gallant conduct and the pre-requisites for efficient and 
successful command, compare brilliantly with the names supplied by 
all other State-; and the patient, vigilant, and tenacious record made 
by our veteran regiments in the camp, on the march, and in the field, 
is made a subject of praise by the whole country, and will be the 
theme for poets and historians of all lands for all time." 

-2 



RICHARD YATES. 6 

Mr. Yates took his seat in the Senate of the United States on the 
4th of March, 1865, in time to aid in the complete restoration of the 
Union he had elsewhere assisted to save. 

He immediately took rank among the foremost of those who have 
been denominated "Radicals." He announced himself as standing 
upon the broad principle " that all citizens, without distinction of 
race, color, or condition, should be protected in the enjoyment and 
exercise of all their civil and political rights." His faith in the final 
triumph of this principle was unwavering. On the 14th of February, 
186G, Mr. Yates pronounced a speech of three hours' duration on a 
proposed Constitutional Amendment changing the basis of represen- 
tation. " It is too late," he eloquently said on that occasion, " it is 
too late to change the tide of human progress." 

Mr. Yates is one of the most popular orators of the country. Im- 
pelled by a warm humanitarianism and glowins^imagination, he passes 
rapidly by dry technicalities and abstract theories to those grand 
and glowing deductions which the patriot delights to contemplate. 
He possesses a melodious voice, a graceful manner, with a ready and 
even rapid utterance. In person he is of medium hight, with a face 
which in his early years possessed a beauty quite uncommon among 
men of mark. 






GEOKGE M. ADAMS. 



'EORGE M. ADAMS was born in Knox County, Kentucky, 
December 20, 1837. He was educated at Centre College, 
*iF^k Danville, Kentucky, studied law, and was clerk of the 
Circuit Court of Knox County from 1359 to 1861. In August, 1S61, 
he raised a company for service in the war, and entered the Union 
army as captain in the 7th Kentucky Volunteers. He was soon 
after appointed additional paymaster of volunteers, and served in 
that capacity until the close of the war. In May, 1S67, he was elected 
a Representative from Kentucky to the Fortieth Congress, as a Dem- 
ocrat, and took his seat July 8. He was appointed to serve on the 
Committees on the Militia and Freedmen's Affairs. Two days after 
his admission he presented the protests of his colleagues against the 
action of the House by which their credentials were referred to the 
Committee on Elections. November 25, he addressed the House in 
favor of admitting Mr. Golladay to his seat. As a member of the 
Committee on Freedmen's Affairs he sturdily opposed the bill to 
continue the bureau for the relief of freedinen and refugees. In a 
speech on this subject, March 17,1868, he said: "This country, 
under its present financial embarrassments, is not able to continue in 
existence a bureau for the support and maintenance of any class of 
its people, and more especially for the support and education, as pro- 
posed by the bill, of this class of roving vagabonds called freedinen, 
whose only idea of freedom is that it confers upon them the right to 
be idle, and whose destitution is the result of their own indolence." 
He subsequently proposed, as an amendment to the bill, that " said 
bureau shall be immediately withdrawn and discontinued in all the 
States now represented in Congress, and shall be discontinued in the 
remaining States, as soon as they shall be restored to their former 
political relations with the Government of the United States.'* 





**L 



WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 



igw|^ILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Perry, Wayne County, 
^M^Mi Ohio, March 2, 1829. Most of his boyhood was spent upon 
^$$*tt a farm. He was educated at Alleghany College, Penn- 
sylvania, and at "Western Reserve College, Ohio. He then entered 
on the study of law, and was admitted to practice in 1851. He con- 
tinued the practice of law in Ohio until 1857, when he removed to 
Dubuque, Iowa. He was a delegate in the Chicago Convention of 
1860 ; and, in 1861, he was a member of the Governor's staff, render- 
ing essential service in raising troops for the war. 

In 1S62, Mr. Allison was elected from Iowa a Representative to 
the Thirty-eight Congress, and re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, 
and Forty-first Congresses. He has served on the Committee on Public 
Lands, Roads and Canals, also on Ways and Means, Mines and Mining, 
and Expenses in the Interior Department. 

The Congressional records show Mr. Allison to be vigilant and 
faithful in his duties in the House. His speeches evince sobriety 
and care, at the same time that they display ability and fearlessness 
in the advocacy of his views. 

Mr. Allison's speech, June 4, 1868, on the " Internal Tax Bill," 
while it evinces much ability, presents facts and statements of special 
interest to the country at large. The following extracts are selected 
in illustration : 

" Mr. Chairman, I fear we must resort to something more perfect 
if we would check the frauds on the revenue which exist in tins coun- 
try to-day. I beg leave to differ with gentlemen on this side of the 
House as to the cause of these great frauds. I do not attribute their 



2 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 

commission to the division of responsibility. The Commissioner of In- 
ternal Revenue is a bureau officer under the Secretary of the Treasury. 
The Secretary of the Treasury is to-day the responsible head of 
the Department, charged with the collection of the revenue of the 
country. It is no defense for him to say that he does not know of the 
existence of these frauds. Is it not enough for him to know that there 
are produced in this country at least seventy-five million gallons of 
distilled spirits, and that but seven million gallons pay the tax dur- 
ing the fiscal year about to close ? Is it to be said that the respon- 
sible head of the revenue department — the Secretary of the Treasury 
— does not know that the reason why this revenue is not collected is 
because of frauds in his Department, and that he must wait for his 
subordinate officer to bring those frauds to his knowledge? 

" I say the responsibility rests to-day upon the Secretary of the 
Treasury, unless he can shift that responsibility upon the President 
of the United States, where I believe it legitimately and properly be- 
longs. While I give the Secretary of the Treasury credit for integ- 
rity of purpose and purity of character, he is unfortunately too much 
of a partisan, or is not willing to assume the responsibility which is 
within bis power and control. Many of these revenue agents be- 
long to what my colleagues on the Committee of Ways and Means 
and others here denominate " the whisky ring." They are constantly 
roaming over the country and forming leagues, by which the Govern- 
ment is defrauded. * * * 

" These men are not removed from office. I have been told that the 
Secretary of the Treasury makes representations to the President of 
the United States; but I have yet to learn that a single man who has 
been engaged in these fraudulent practices has been removed by the 
President of the United States. Hence, Mr. Chairman, I think the 
chief reason for these frauds is inherent in our present political situa- 
tion, and that we never can get rid of them except in one way, that 
is by having harmony in the administration, and harmony in legisla- 
tion, and administration and legislation on the side of the Govern- 
ment." 



OAKES AMES. 



AKES AMES was born in Eastern, Bristol County, Massa- 




chusetts, January 10, 180-1. His father, Oliver Ames, 
many years ago began the business of manufacturing shov- 
els in a small way, which has developed into the immense establish- 
ment employing hundreds of men under the control of O. Ames & 
Sons. Years ago, Oakes Ames, while still enlarging and extending 
his original business, entered the wider field of railroad enterprise. 
He invested capital and inspired energy in several languishing rail- 
road enterprises, and was largely concerned in the construction of 
extended lines of railway in Iowa. 

When the Pacific Railroad was regarded by multitudes of intelli- 
gent men as impracticable, if not impossible, Mr. Ames, with wise 
faith in the future, invested largely, and contributed in many ways 
to the success of the greatest material achievement of the age. His 
brother, Oliver Ames, entered into the enterprise, gave almost un- 
divided attention to its affairs, and is now president of the road. 

Notwithstanding the demands of a large business, Mr. Oakes 
Ames gave some time and attention to political affairs. He served 
for two years as a member of the Executive Council of Massachusetts. 
In 1802 he was elected a Representative from Massachusetts to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, For- 
tieth and Forty-first Congresses. He served on the Committees on 
Manufactures, and the Pacific Railroad, lie was not in the habit of 
making speeches, and yet he exerted much influence in legislation. 



12 






GEORGE W. ANDERSON. 



(JpEORGE W. ANDERSON was born in Jefferson County, 
Tennessee, May 22, 1S32. He graduated at Franklin Col- 
-^ lege, Tennessee, and adopted the profession of law. He 
settled in Missouri in 1853, and became editor of the " North-East 
Missourian." In 1859 and 1860 he was a member of the Missouri 
Legislature. Early in 1861 he organized a Home Guard, of which 
he was chosen colonel. He was subsequently commissioned a 
colonel of militia, and commanded the 49th Regiment of Mis- 
souri in active service. In 1860 he was a Presidential Elector, and 
in 1862 was elected a State Senator. In 1S65 he was elected a 
Representative from Missouri to the Thirty-ninth Congress, in which 
he served on the Committee on Public Lands, and as chairman of the 
Committee on Mileage. He received a certificate of election to the 
Fortieth Congress, but his opponent, Colonel William F. Switzler, 
made a contest for the seat, which was finally decided in favor of Mr. 
Anderson. January 21, 1869. The following extract from a speech 
made by Mr. Anderson before the House during the discussion of 
the case, was in reply to some charges affecting his loyalty: "In 
1860, 1861, and 1862 I was a pro-slavery man. I did not agree with 
Mr. Lincoln when he issued his emancipation proclamation, but I 
did not intend to separate myself from the Union men of the country. 
I accepted that proclamation in good faith. 1 was the owner of 
some slave property, and the moment I accepted that proclamation 
I emancipated every slave I owned, and I did not reserve them for 
the purpose of presenting a claim for them. Sir, I state upon the 
floor of the House of Representatives that 1 was the first man in 
North Missouri who raised an armed organization against the rebel- 
lion. I was the first man to whom arms were furnished fir the pur- 
pose of suppressing traitors." 



STEVEXS(OT AEOHER 



^jgfrrEVENSON ARCHER was born in Harford County, Mary- 
iyO land, February 28, 1827. His grandfather, John Archer, was 
"'■^f an officer in the Revolution, and a member of Congress from 
1801 to 1807. His father, Stevenson Archer, was a member of Con- 
gress from 1811 to 1817, and again from 1819 to 1821. The subject 
of this sketch graduated at Princeton College in 1846, adopted the 
profession of law, and was a member of the Maryland State Legisla- 
ture in 1854. In I860 he was elected a Representative from Mary- 
land to the Fortieth Congress as a Democrat, receiving 7,091 votes 
against 5,014 for the Republican candidate. He served on the Com- 
mittees on Naval Affairs, Expenditures on Public Buildings, and 
Education in the District of Columbia. In a speech, December 4, 
1867, he advocated the repeal of the cotton tax, arguing from facts 
and figures that " its removal would benefit the very poorest class of 
the people of the South." Speaking, February 21, 1868, on the 
Naval Appropriation bill, Mr. Archer said : " If this House is in 
earnest with regard to the protection of the rights of our naturalized 
citizens, this, of all other times, is the time when there should be no 
reduction in the navy of the country. If we are in earnest in the 
speeches which have been made here and the resolutions which have 
been offered to protect the naturalized citizens of this country, I say 
that we ought to present to the world a stronger navy than we pre- 
sented even during the rebellion. We have got to protect them 
either by the exhibition of such a force or else by declaring war itself 
with foreign nations. I hope that their rights will be protected, even 
if it leads to a declaration of war." 

January 23, he spoke against the reduction of the whiskey tax. 
"It ought to stand," said he, " if for no other reason than the vindi- 



71 






2 STEVENSON ARCHER. 

qation of the Government. If this country could enforce its laws 
against ten million people in arms against it, I say it presents a 
Btrange spectacle if it cannot enforce a law to collect the taxes." He 
uro-ed that if the energy which the House had displayed in investi- 
gating the evidence against the President, had been used in investi- 
gating the frauds against the Government, those who had violated 
the law in reference to the whiskey tax would have been brought to 
punishment, adding : 

" While we go on legislating in this way this ' whiskey ring,' 
or the men who are setting the law at defiance which fixes the 
tax on whiskey at two dollars a gallon, will set a law at defiance 
if the tax be fixed at fifty cents, or any other sum. I say it is due 
to the dignity of the Government that, instead of repealing the 
tax on whiskey, this House should take such measures as will 
bring those who violate the law to a proper punishment, and the 
energy of this House ought to be brought to bear for that purpose. 
AVhen the majesty of the law has been established, and not before, 
let us legislate for the reduction of this tax." July 13, 1868, he 
reviewed the policy of the Kepublican party, and its recently adopted 
platform. " In this contest for power," said he, " the Kepublican 
party resembles, in their recklessness, Sampson of old when led into 
the temple of the Philistines. He, blind with fury and hate against 
the snrroandihg masses, who scoffingly looked upon him and upbraided 
him for the loss of power and strength which his own folly had de- 
stroyed, stood between the mighty pillars of that temple, and rending 
them asunder, all perished in one vast ruin. As Sampson seized 
these pillars even so did the Republican party seize upon the two 
great pillars which are the supports of our temple. I mean the 
Supreme Court and the Executive. By the power still left in this 
party they have striven and are still striving to uproot these pillars 
from their foundations, and overwhelm at one fell swoop the masses 
of the American people." 



SAMUEL M. AKCTELL. 



« 



•AMUEL M. ARNELL was born in Maury County, Tennes- 
see, May 3, 1S33. His grandfather was a soldier in the Revo- 
'•j^f lution, who fought and brought back wounds from King's 
Mountain and Yorktown. Samuel was educated at Amherst Col- 
lege, Massachusetts, and studied law, and subsequently engaged in 
the manufacture of leather in Lewis County, Tennessee. Mr. Arnell 
having been charged on the floor of the House of Representatives 
with furnishing leather to the rebel army, replied, by way of "per- 
sonal explanation," in a speech of which the following is an extract : 
" Prior to the war, in connection with other parties, I was engaged 
in the manufacture of leather, and the breaking out of the war found 
me so occupied. After the fall of Fort Donelson, General Buell oc- 
cupied my section of the country, but upon his retreat from Corinth, 
Mississippi, Middle Tennessee was left entirely exposed to the rebels. 
Before, however, the withdrawal of the Federal forces from my vicin- 
ity, I promptly informed the officer in command, General James S. 
Negley, that there was a considerable amount of leather in this estab- 
lishment, and requested him to seize or destroy it. He replied that 
the abandonment of Middle Tennessee would be very brief. He 
could not transport it, and did not consider the necessity sufficiently 
great to destroy it. For six dreary months thereafter Van Dora 
and Forrest occupied that section of country, conscripting men for 
the rebel service, seizing and impressing every article of food, cloth- 
ing and transportation. A guard of rebel soldiers came to my 
premises, took possession of this leather in the name of the Confed- 
eracy, did what force and bayonets are always able to do, carried 
it off in their own wagons, and doubtless used it for rebel purposes. 
This is the head and front of my offending— material out vt' which 

3/ 



2 SAMUEL M. AENELL. 

the rebel press in my own State and elsewhere have manufactured 
every variety of charge In the mad hour of the rebel- 
lion I gave to my country's cause no doubtful or lukewarm support. 
In 1S61 I took the stump publicly against secession. In 1862, when 
the Federal army entered Tennessee, I rallied the scattered Unionists, 
and we held meetings expressive of our unalterable devotion to the 
Union. In 1S64, at the suggestion of the then military governor 
of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson, I reorganized my own county of 
Maury, with the aid of other Unionists, upon a loyal basis. In the 
Tennessee Legislature of 1865 and 1866 I did my humble share 
toward building, not a despotism, as the gentleman from New York 
says, but a free, loyal, Republican State Government." 

Besides the service above referred to in the State Legislature, 
Mr. Arnell was, in 1865, a member of the Tennessee Constitu- 
tional Convention. He was the author of the Civil Rights bill, 
and of the Franchise Law, which became a part of the Constitution 
of Tennessee. He was elected a Representative from Tennessee to 
the Thirty-ninth Congress, but the delegation from that State not 
being admitted immediately, he continued to hold his seat in the 
State Legislature. At the opening of the second session he was 
admitted to his seat, and served on the Committee on Public Expen- 
ditures. Re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, he served on the Com- 
mittee on Accounts, and as chairman of the Committee on Ex- 
penditures in the State Department. He was re-elected to the 
Forty -first Congress, during which he remained a member of the 
Committee on Accounts, and was chairman of the Committee on 
Education and Labor. He introduced a resolution instructing the 
Library Committee to inquire into the subject of international copy- 
right, and a resolution to repress the outrages of the Ku Klux Klan 
in Tennessee, for which he received letters threatening him with 
" summary midnight justice" when he should return to his home. 
He made an eloquent appeal to the House in favor of paying boun- 
ties to colored soldiers, spoke in favor of the immediate admission 
of Alabama, and advocated the continuance of the Freed man's Bureau. 




^2^^ y^/^^ 




DELOS E. ASHLEY. 



"*y>f 



pfEVADA, the richest of the United States in mineral re 
sources, was admitted into the Union, October 31, 1864, 

f^^ with a voting population of little more than sixteen thou- 
sand. A few days later, the miners of the new State participated in 
the presidential election, giving Mr. Lincoln a majorit}', and at 
the same' time electing Delos R. Ashley as their first Representative 
in Congress. 

He was born at Arkansas Post, February 19, 1828. He received 
an academic education, and studied law at Monroe, Michigan. In 
1849, among the foremost of the adventurers lured westward by the 
recent discovery of gold, he went to California, and settled in Mon- 
terey, where he soon found abundant aud profitable demand for his 
professional services. In 1851 he was chosen district-attorney, and 
held the office until 1853. During the two years ensuing, he was a 
Democratic member of the Assembly of California, and in 1856 and 
1857 he was a State Senator. He then retired from politics, and 
devoted himself to the practice of his profession. The political issues 
forced upon the country by the breaking out of the rebellion, caused 
him to unite with the Republican party, in the interests of which he 
canvassed the State, and was elected State Treasurer, an office which 
he held two years. In 1864 ho removed to Austin, Nevada, where 
he practised his profession until his election as a Representative to 
the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Con- 
gress, during which he served on the Committees on Public Lands, 
and Mines and Mining. He made a speech, March 2, 1868, in favor 
of the impeachment of President Johnson, which was a brief, perti- 
nent and unimpassioned effort. His speeches in Congress were genr 
erally and characteristically brief, business-like, and sensible. 

16 

1A 



JAMES M. ASHLEY. 




8 AMES M. ASHLEY is a native of Pennsylvania, and was 
born November 14, 1824. He left home before attain- 
ing his fifteenth year, and for a time was a cabin-bo} T on 
"Western river steamboats. He subsequently worked in a printing 
office, and visiting Portsmouth, Ohio, where his father had at one 
time resided, he connected himself with the press, to which his tastes 
and inclinations appear to have led him, and presently became one 
of the editors of the Dispatch, and afterwards editor and proprietor 
ot the Democrat. 

From the editor's sanctum, Mr. Ashley went into the law office of 
C. 0. Tracy, Esq., at that time one of the most distinguished lawyers 
of Southern Ohio. There he remained three years, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1849, but never practiced his profession. 

He engaged for a time in boat-building, and in isr>2 we find him 
at Toledo, Ohio, engaged in the drug business. Meanwhile he parti- 
cipated actively in polities, and in 1S58 was elected to the Thirty- 
Bixth ( '.mgress from the Tenth Ohio District. 

Without experience in public life, Mr. Ashley entered upon his 
'Congressional career at a time of unusual interest, when the tem- 
pest of Southern treason was gathering in the firmament While 
many were faltering in the enforcement of the popular demand 
for the nationalization of freedom, he maintained a uniform con- 
sistency, and was among the foremost in demanding this reform. All 
the great measures which now shed luster and honor upon the record 
of the Republican party, were advocated by him long before their 
adoption, and many of them were by him first introduced into 

w 




cX7i>^/^^^V>«^V^^^ ^ 




JAMES M. ASHLEY. 2 

Congress. He prepared and reported to the House the first measure 
of Reconstruction submitted to Congress, which, though defeated at 
the time of its first presentation, finally received the overwhelming 
indorsement of his party, both in and out of Congress. He has pre- 
sented several propositions which, at the time of their introduction, 
failed to command the united vote of his party in Congress, but not 
one of importance which did not finally receive that indorsement. 

Mr. Ashley has ever been a most active and reliable friend of the 
solder. Every measure for their benefit or relief has received his ear- 
nest and active support. During the war very much of his time, when 
not at his post in Congress, was spent in visiting them in the hospitals 
and upon the field, and their every want or request met with his 
hearty response. The greater portion of his salary was expended foi 
their relief, and no demand upon his charity or labor in their behalf 
failed to meet a generous response at his hands. Since the close of 
the war he has been ever vigilant in looking after their claims against, 
the Government, and his efforts have been of much service in secur 
mo- them against tedious delays and the treachery of unscrupulous 
agents. 

Mr. Ashley was the first to move in the House for the impeachment 
of Andrew Johnson, and made several speeches advocating that 
measure, and for some time stood comparatively alone. 

On the 29th of May he took the lead again in introducing into the 
House a constitutional amendment, the object of which was to abolish 
the office of Vice-President, making the presiding officer of the Senate 
elective by that body, limiting the term of the President to four years, 
and providing for his election directly by the people. 

Mr. Ashley made a speech advocating this amendment, on which 
a contemporary very properly remarks that "the time lias been in 
our history when reputations for statesmanship were established by 
speeches of less ability.'' 

" The country," said he in that speech, "has been distracted, and its 
peace imperiled more than once, because of the existence of the office 
of Vice-President. The nation would have been spared the terrible 



3 JAMES M. ASHLEY. 

ordeal through which it passed in the contest between Jefferson and 

Burr in 1801 had there been no vice-presidential office. Had there 

been no such office, we would have been spared the perfidy of a Tyler, 

the betrayal of a Fillmore, and the baseness and infamy of a Johnson. 
-X- * * * * * 

" While each of the candidates for President and Yice-President 
professes to subscribe to the so-called platform of principles adopted by 
the conventions which nominate them, they nevertheless represent, as 
a rule, opposing factions in the party, and often at heart antagonistic 
ideas, which are only subordinated for the sake of party success. 
This was the case with Harrison and Tyler, Taylor and Fillmore, 
Lincoln and Johnson. When each of these Vice-Presidents, on the 
death of the President-elect, came into the presidential office, he at- 
tempted to build up a party which should secure his re-election. For 
this purpose they did not scruple to betray the great body of men 
who elected them to the office of Yice-President, nor did they hesi- 
tate at the open and shameless use of public patronage for that pur- 
pose. The weakest and most dangerous part of our executive system 
for the personal safety of the President is a defect in the Constitution 
itself. I find it in that clause of the Constitution which provides that 
the Yice-President shall, on the death or inability of the President, 
succeed to his office. The presidential office is thus undefended, and 
invites temptation. The life of but one man must often stand be- 
tween the success of unscrupulous ambition, the designs of mercenary 
cliques, or the fear and hatred of conspirators." 

In a recent address, Mr. Ashley paid the following tribute to cer- 
tain prominent anti-slavery men of the country : 

" To the anti-slavery men and women of the United States we owe 
our political redemption as a nation. They who endured social and 
political ostracism, the hatred of slave-masters, and the cowardly as- 
saults of Northern mobs, in defense of those who were manacled and 
dumb, and could not ask for help, were the moral heroes of our 
great anti-slavery revolution. To them, and to many thousands whose 
names will never be written on the pages of history, but whose lives 



JAMES M. ASHLEY. 4 

were as true, as unselfish, and as consecrated as any, is the nation 
indebted for its regenerated Constitution, its vindication of the rights 
of human nature, and its solemn pledge for the future impartial 
administration of justice. To me these are the men whose lives 
are the most beautiful and the most valuable. . . . The world is 
full of men whose pure and unselfish lives ennoble and dignify the 
human race. My exemplars are the men who in all ages have lived 
such lives, whether religious reformers like Luther and "Wesley, or phil- 
osophers and statesmen like Hampden and Sydney, Locke and Bacon, 
Cobden and Bright and John Stuart Mill ; or like our own Wash- 
ington and Lincoln, Phillips and Garrison, Stevens and Sumner, 
Greeley and Gerrit Smith. To me the only model statesman is he 
who secures liberty and impartial justice for all, and protects the weak 
against the strong:. He is the statesman and the benefactor who aids 
in educating the ignorant, and in lightening the cares of the toil- 
ing millions." 

For ten years Mr. Ashley held a seat in Congress by successive re- 
elections. In the fall of 1868, however, the official returns gave the 
election to the Forty-first Congress to his opponent, but under such 
circumstances as to cause their accuracy to be questioned, lie was 
nominated by President Grant for Governor of the Territory of 
Montana, and was confirmed by the Senate. 



^3 



V 



SAMUEL B. AXTELL. 



& jgf AMUEL B. AXTELL was born in Franklin County, Ohio, 
JjgJ October 14, 1819. He was educated at Western Reserve 
14/" College, Ohio, and adopted the profession of law. In 1851 
he emigrated to California, and settled in San Francisco. He was 
elected a Representative from California to the Fortieth Congress as 
a Democrat, and was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress. During 
his first term he served on the Committees on Commerce and Weights 
and Measures, and during his second term on the Committees on the 
Pacific Railroad and Agriculture. Mr. AxtelPs speeches in the For- 
tieth Congress, while indicating his adherence to Democratic politics, 
showed a lively interest in the material prosperity of the country, 
and especially of the Pacific coast. He addressed the House, July 
7, 1868, in favor of the purchase of Alaska, asserting that " the 
Pacific States, more intimately acquainted with this territory than 
the Atlantic States, are unanimously in favor of this purchase." In 
another part of this speech he said : " We have reached a point in the 
history of the world, where the Pacific Ocean is to be the great thea- 
tre of the world's greatness from this time forward When we 

have, as we shall have in our time, three lines of railroad communi- 
cation with the Pacific coast and a great ship canal across the isth- 
mus, we shall then find that the Pacific Ocean is the great theatre 
for the activity of our citizens; we shall then rejoice that we have 
extinguished, by purchase, any other national flag upon that coast; 
that we have given to our commerce harbors there ; that we have 
opened up the means of holding and controlling, as it is our destiny 
to hold and control, not only all North America, but the great com- 
merce of the Pacific." 

7 3 S 



ALEXANDER H. BAILEY. 



VtM^ LEXANDER H - BAILEY was born in Minisink, Orange 
^J^m County, New York, August 14, 1817. He graduated at 
\£jj|^j| Princeton College, New Jersey, in 183S ; subsequently 
studying and practising law. From 1810 to 1S42 be was master 
and examiner in Chancery for Greene County, New York. He was 
justice of the peace in the town of Catskill for four years. In 1849 
be was a member of the Assembly of the State of New York. In 
1858 he became judge of Greene County, and held the office four 
years. From 1S61 to 1S64 be was a member of the State Senate. 
He was elected a Representative from New York to the Fortieth 
Congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Roscoe 
Conkling, and took his seat November 30, 1867. He was re-elected 
to the Forty-first Congress as a Republican, receiving 12,543 votes 
against 11,240 for tbe Democratic candidate. During the Fortieth 
Congress he served on the Committee on Private Land Claims, and 
the Committee on Expenditures in the Interior Department. On 
February 4, 186S, he spoke briefly but forcibly in favor of measures 
to protect the rights of American citizens abroad, asserting that 
" the just and righteous position here taken, and which is hereafter 
to be maintained, will insure to every American citizen, no matter 
what his origin, or how humble be may be, the freedom of the 
world." February 4, in a long and able argument he maintained 
that " there is a great public necessity for the impeachment of 
Andrew Johnson." May 12, in speaking on a bill relating to the 
Pacific Railroad, he maintained that it " is very important that Con- 
gress should regulate the tariff of charges upon these roads." Al- 
though representing a district somewhat interested in the Niagara 
Ship Canal, he spoke against the proposed work on the ground that 
"the nation cannot now afford to make the expenditure." 



^7 



? 



JEHU BAKER 




EMU BAKER was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, No- 
vember 4, 1822. lie received an academical education, 
studied law, and located in Belleville, Illinois, for the prac- 
tice of his profession. He was elected a Representative from Illinois 
to the Thirty-ninth Congress, during which he served on the Com- 
mittee on Private Land Claims, on the Special Committee on the 
Civil Service, and as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in 
the Post-office Department. He was re-elected to the Fortieth Con- 
gress as a Republican, receiving 13,032 votes against 11,956 for the 
Democratic candidate. In the Fortieth Congress he served on the 
Committees on Education and Labor, and Freedmen's Affairs. He 
delivered several speeches evincing much thought and careful study 
in their preparation. In a speech delivered July 20, 1867, on the 
President's message, he denounced the arrogance of Mr. Johnson in 
presuming to " take into his own hands and to subject to the poor 
fallible judgment of a single individual the immense work of restor- 
ing civil order, and guaranteeing republican governments to the dis- 
organized States of the Union." December 4, 1867, he gave a series 
of brief and cogent reasons for the repeal of the cotton tax. January 
IS, 1868, he delivered an eloquent and able speech against the pur- 
chase of Alaska, in the course of which he said that "the well-being 
of the nation loudly and imperatively demands a period of rest from 
territorial growth, during which it may harmonize its jarring and 
hostile elements, restore its crippled industries, complete its great 
channels of inter-communication, and unify itself by building up in 
the hearts of its people that amor patrice which such immense num- 
bers of them have lost." 



JOHN D. BALDWIN". 




'OHN D. BALDWIN was born at North Stonington, Con- 
necticut, September 28, 1810. His ancestors were among 
the earliest settlers in Connecticut. His father and other 
relatives were prominent patriots in the war for Independence. He 
entered Yale College at the earliest admissible age, and graduated to 
the degree of Master of Arts, afterwards reading law and theoWv. 
His inclinations, however, led him to literary pursuits, and in 1842 
he commenced an active career in journalism, being associated with 
the press first in Hartford, and afterwards in Boston. Previous to 
this, he had published a volume of poems which gave evidence of 
cultivated taste, lively imagination, and fine descriptive powers. 

In Boston Mr. Baldwin became actively associated with the Free- 
soil movement, and during the next eighteen years was among its 
leading advocates. On the establishment of the Boston " Common- 
wealth," about the time the Fugitive Slave law was enacted, Mr. 
Baldwin assumed its editorship. Conducted with great ability and 
vigor, yet avoiding personal issues as much as possible, the " Com- 
monwealth " had a great deal to do in shaping that political anti- 
slavery sentiment which originated the Republican party. After- 
wards Mr. Baldwin became editor of the Boston "'Telegraph," and 
then purchased the Worcester " Daily Spy," one of the oldest journals 
in America. During these years of active professional life, Mr. 
Baldwin found time to act as delegate to all the National Conventions 
of the Freesoil, Liberty party, and Republican organizations, and 
also to engage in studies connected with oriental inquiries so exten- 
sive and thorough as to secure for him a reputation for profound 
scholarship. He is a member of the American Oriental Society, and 
has long been in correspondence with the leading societies and learned 
men in Europe, whose archeological and historical studies are related 
to the subjects of his own extensive inquiries and research. 



2 JOHN D. BALDWIN. 

In 18G2 Mr. Baldwin was elected a Representative from Massa- 
chusetts to the Thirty-eighth Congress. In that body he served on 
the Committees on Public Printing, Public Buildings and Grounds, 
and Expenditures, and soon became known as an active working 
member. A long continued bronchial affection prevented him from 
exerting himself as a debater, though a speech on " State Sovereignty " 
attracted considerable attention from its historical value and its log- 
ical analysis of the heresy which it combatted. He was re-elected to 
the Thirty-ninth Congress, in which he served on the District of Colum- 
bia Committee. He took great interest in all measures designed to 
ameliorate the condition of the poor and uneducated, aiding by the 
introduction and support of various measures the organization of a 
public school system for the freed people. Re-elected to the Fortieth 
Congress, Mr. Baldwin was made chairman of the Committee on the 
Library. In this capacity he continued more actively and directly 
the interest he had taken in the great Congressional Library from the 
beginning of his career in the House of Representatives, and was 
particularly active in extending its value in the direction of his own 
favorite researches. During this Congress Mr. Baldwin made a speech 
marked with scholarly knowledge, and rare eloquence in reply to Hon. 
James Brooks, who took the ground that the decay of all nations was 
owing to the admixture on terms of equality in their public and social 
polity of inferior races. Mr. Baldwin's reply attracted general 
attention, and was republished as a campaign document during the 
presidential contest of 1868, by the Republican committee. 

Shortly before the close of the Fortieth Congress Mr. Baldwin 
completed and published, through the Harpers, a volume containing 
the results of his long continued and extensive studies under the title 
of " Pre-Historic Nations," in which he endeavors to establish, by a 
careful review of the evidence he had found, the existence of a civil- 
ized race whom he designates as the Cushites, and who, he aims to 
show, were the founders of an extensive civilization, which all scholars 
now acknowledge as having a common origin, though widely scat- 
tered and in various degrees of development. 




^^gL^^ 



NATHANIEL P. BAI^KS. 



Wj^ATIIANIEL P. BANKS was born in Waltham, Massachu- 
oJ^L setts, January 30, 1819. With no other early education than 
J^/ that afforded by the common schools, he was placed, as soon 
as he could be of service, at work in a cotton factory of which his 
father was the overseer. He afterward learned the trade of a ma 
chinist. Joining a dramatic company which was formed among his 
associates, he played the prominent parts with so much success, that 
he had inducements offered him to adopt the profession of an actor. 
But preferring another stage, he lectured before political meetings, 
lyceums, and temperance societies, and afterward became editor of a 
news] taper in his native place. He was in request as a speaker in 
the political meetings of the Democratic party, and for his services 
received an office under Polk's administration in the Boston Custom 
House. In 1819 he was elected to the House of Representatives of 
Massachusetts, and in 1851 he was chosen Speaker. 

In the summer of 1853 he was President of the Convention called 
to revise the Constitution of the State, and in the same year he took 
his seat as a Representative in the Thirty-third Congress from Massa- 
chusetts. He signified his withdrawal from the Democratic party by 
voting against the Kansas-Nebraska Dill, which was the absorbing 
political topic of the time. In 1851 he was re-elected to Congress, 
and was selected by the Republicans as their candidate for Speaker 
of the House. He was elected after a contest of two months, and 
more than one hundred ballots. He performed the difficult duties 
of the Speakership with unequalled ability, and DO one of his deci 
sions was ever overruled by the Souse. He continued a Representa- 
tive in ( 'ingress until 1857, when he was elected Governor of Ma>sa- 
chiisetts, to which office he was twice re-elected. 

- 



2 NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 

At the breaking out of the rebellion, he entered the military 
Bervice of the country, lie was commissioned a Major-General, May 
30, 1861, and was soon after assigned to command the Department 
of Annapolis, with headquarters at Baltimore. The spirit of rebellion 
possessed the people and the municipal government of that city, 
requiring for its successful treatment great executive ability and 
vigorous policy. The measures adopted by General Banks were 
such as the emergency demanded. The Government re-asserted its 
authority, and rebellion in Maryland was repressed by the prompti- 
tude and decision of General Banks in arresting George P. Kane, 
Marshal of the Baltimore Police, and suspending the powers of the 
Police Commissioners. 

Soon after the disaster of Bull Run General Banks was ordered to 
relieve General Patterson. He was subsequently assigned to com- 
mand the Fifth Army Corps which defeated Stonewall Jackson in the 
battle of Winchester, and broke the "quiet" which long had a 
depressing effect on the country. 

The spring of 1S62 found General Banks in the valley of the 
Shenandoah with a force of about eighteen thousand men, ready to 
move upon Staunton and capture that important military position. 
He was already within twenty-eight miles of that place, and saw the 
prize within his grasp, when an order was issued from the "W ar 
Department, directing him to send Shields' Division of 12,000 men 
to reinforce McDowell. Banks obeyed the order, though it was 
the death-blow of his hopes, and plated him at the mercy of 
Stonewall Jackson, who. flushed with a recent success, was ready 
to fall upon him with an overwhelming force. Resolved not to 
Hinvnder his little army, he began his masterly retreat by way 
of Winchester to the Potomac. A series of battles was fought, 
by which the enemy was held in check until Banks' army ami trains 
were placed across the Potomac with little loss. The necessity for 
this retreat was created in Washington, where it naturally and justly 
created great panic among the officials. Scarcely any movement of 
the war was managed with more consummate generalship than this 
retreat in the Valley of the Shenandoah. 



NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 3 

His Corps having been placed in the Army of Virginia, under 
command of Pope, General Banks fought the Battle of Cedar Moun- 
tain. He subsequently, for a short time, was in command of the 
defences of Washington. 

He was, December 15, 1862, assigned to command the Department 
of the Gulf. Never was a more difficult task assigned to an officer 
than the accomplishment of the various political-, diplomatic, and 
military ends which the Government had in view in this Depart- 
ment. The reconstruction of Louisiana, the presentation of a for- 
midable front to the French in Mexico, and the cutting in two of 
the eastern and western armies of the Confederacy — these were some 
of the multifarious objects aimed at in sending General Banks to 
New Orleans. 

His administration of civil affairs in New Orleans, though 
different in manner from that of General Butler, was similar in its 
object and effect — the suppression of rebellion and the fostering of 
the loyal element. 

In his military movements, General Banks was successful in the 
capture of Port Hudson on the Mississippi. A movement against 
Sabine Pass, under General Franklin, disastrously failed, although 
the fort was defended by less than fifty men. Other operations on 
the coast and on the Rio Grande were attended with success. 

After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, it was the advice of 
General Grant and General Banks that a movement should be made 
on Mobile, and that the rebel army west of the Mississippi, isolated 
as it was, should be left unemployed and useless to the Confederacy. 
There were, however, in Washington, influential parties who desired 
that an expedition should be made up the Red River which would 
bring into market the cotton of that region. Against his own 
judgment General Banks entered upon the Red River expedition with 
an inadequate fierce, which was not wholly under his control, since 
Smith, and Steele, and Porter with the gun-boat fleet, each held inde- 
pendent commands — an arrangement fatal to the success of the expe- 
dition. The Union army had made its way to a point about fifty 
miles south of Shreveport on the Red River, when its progress was 



1 NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 

checked by the disastrous battle of Sabine Cross "Roads. Banks fell 
back a few miles with his army and made a stand at Pleasant Hill, 
where he gained a decisive victory. The expedition, however, pro- 
ceeded no further, since the low stage of water prevented the 
further progress of the fleet. General Banks was soon after relieved 
by General Canby, who had been assigned to command the Depart- 
ment of the Gulf. 

In his military career General Banks was by no means as success- 
ful as in political life. Without military experience, he was appointed 
a Major-General at so early a day as to outrank many experienced 
officers. This had a tendency to produce insubordination, and to fan 
the jealousy which existed among regulars against volunteer officers. 
lie lacked the firm military grasp of one " born to command," by 
which a general causes subordinate officers and men promptly to 
execute his purposes. He was wanting in the faculty of looking 
after his own interests and reputation. He had no relatives nor 
partners engaged in profiting by the misfortunes of the country, and 
engaged in no private speculations of his own, yet he was unwill- 
ingly made the agent of cotton speculators in the lied River expe- 
dition ; and when their schemes were unsuccessful, they contrived to 
lay on General Banks the odium which justly belonged to themselves. 
No officer of the army gave more honest and patriotic service to the 
country, no general personally profited by it so little. 

Resigning his commission in the army, he was elected a Repre- 
sentative from Massachusetts to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was 
re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving as 
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 






DEMAS BARNES. 








OMMEKCE as well as politics has representatives in the 
Fortieth Congress. Prominent among these is Demas Bar- 
nes, who was born in Gorham Township, Ontario County, 
New York, April 4, 1827. Left an orphan while yet in infancy, his 
life, even as a child, was full of industry and sacrifice. 

At the age of fourteen he went forth into the world penniless and 
alone. '"With all his worldly possessions in his hand, he worked his 
way towards New York City, where, after weeks of labor and travel, 
he arrived without money to buy a breakfast. He immediately went 
to work and earned his first meal by noon. Soon after, as country 
boys are apt to do, he conceived a desire to visit a theater. Arriving 
in front of the Park Theater, fascinated by the bill and the music, he 
took account of his cash, but had not enough to enter the cheapest 
amphitheater. Where that theater then stood, is now one of the 
finest warehouses in America, owned by our youthful hero, and 
worth not less than one hundred thousand dollars. 

Business being depressed, he again drifted into the country, worked 
upon a farm, and attended district school as he could. At eighteen 
we find him a clerk in a store; at twenty a country merchant; 
at twenty-two commencing a small business in the city of New York. 
The dependence of a widowed mother, and half brothers and sisters 
by her subsequent marriage, surrounded him with responsibilities 
and inspirited him with energy, frugality, and ambition. Depriving 
himself of luxuries, he applied himself to business with untiring 
assiduity and with signal success. 

He soon became the leading merchant in his department of busi- 



2 DEMAS BARNES. 

ness in the world, his principal house being in New York, with 
branches in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Montreal. 

While accumulating wealth by extraordinary exertions, he was ever 
alive to his want of literary culture, and applied himself at all times 
to the collection of useful information. A close observer of near and 
remote events, and a patron of benevolent institutions, his lectures 
before agricultural societies, and contributions to the press, called 
him into public notice, and obtained for him, from one of the Uni- 
versities, the title of LL.D. 

Mr. Barnes early became a prominent member of the Chamber of 
Commerce in the city of New York, a director in insurance com- 
panies, and a trustee in benevolent institutions. 

Having invested largely in the mineral lodes of the Western 
States, and being president of several mining companies, he felt it 
his duty to inspect them in person, and in 1865 he undertook the 
arduous task. He crossed the continent to the Pacific Ocean in a 
wagon, visiting the mines of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Califor- 
nia. While making this trip, he contributed to the journals a 
series of letters replete with interesting narratives of personal adven- 
ture ami practical observations. 

These letters were subsequently published by Yan Nostrand as a 
book, entitled, " From the Atlantic to the Pacific." 

In politics Mr. Barnes was first a Whig, and an ardent admirer 
of Clay and Webster. Opposed to oppression and inclined to 
progress, he entered the Republican party at its organization, and 
as a private citizen resisted the extension of slavery into the Terri- 
tories. 

Deeming the Republican party to be drifting into sectionalism, in 
1860 he declined to go as a delegate to the Chicago National Con- 
vention, saying, " I am a citizen — not a politician." 

Being convinced that the nomination of Lincoln and Hamlin would 
prove the initial point in a future war, he immediately coined his 
political theories into commercial accounts, and on the 16th of June, 
1860, closed his business with the Cotton States. He was the first 



DEMAS BARNES. 3 

merchant in America who refused to do business except for cash. 
When the war came, it found him financially prepared. 

In 1S61 he was nominated for Congress, but declined in favor of 
another representative of his own political faith. In 18G6 he was 
again nominated, and elected by the largest majority ever obtained 
in his district. 

In Congress he was placed upon the important Committees of 
Banking and Currency and of Education and Labor. 

He was from the first opposed to the inflation of the currency. 
But this measure having been forced upon the country, and its results 
becoming incorporated into our financial system, he saw disaster in a 
too rapid contraction, and in an elaborate and exhaustive speech, de- 
livered January 11, 1868, said : 

' The currency of a country is like the center of a wheel, the value 
of property resting upon it being the circumference. We can follow 
its expansive centrifugal force without danger ; but when the motion 
is reversed, and it acts with contracting centripetal power, it checks 
the momentum of the financial world. Remove the center, and the 
circumference crumbles with the slightest touch. The conditions of 
society accommodate themselves to an expanding currency without 
interruption. They cannot do so when contraction takes place, for 
the reason that one side of the account becomes fixed and immovable. 
As money disappears, values shrink with unequal rapidity, out debts 
remain at their full face. A large proportion of our property is re- 
presented by credits or debts which no legislation can reduce. We 
have $21,000,000,000 of property represented by $700,000,000 of 
circulating medium ; or three per cent, of money to ninety-seven per 
cent, of confidence and credit. We have a national, state, municipal, 
and personal indebtedness of over $6,200,000,000. To contract our 
currency $100,000,000, reduces the total value of our property one- 
ieventh, or $3,000,000,000. To contract $300,000,000, as is pro- 
posed, would extinguish one-half the values of our property, and 
leave our indebtedness wholly unaffected, the end of which is bank- 

ruptcv to the citizen and repudiation by the Government. We have- 

17 



"Vm 



) 



4 DEMAS BARNES. 

inflated the balloon ; we have landed upon a barren island. Instead 
of undertaking to swim to the mainland against tides, against winds 
and currents, I would wait for the friendly craft to insure our safe 
deliverance. We must now wait for the increase of wealth and 
population to overtake our changed condition, and restore us to the 
specie standard of the world." 

Mr. Barnes opposed the Impeachment of the President, in a speech 
delivered in the House, characterizing it as a party measure fraught 
with mischief to the country, as merging the Executive and Legisla- 
tive Departments into one, inciting the spirit of retaliation, involv- 
ing the stability of our national bonds, and possibly leading to civil 
war. He closed his argument with the following words : "I ask, 
gentlemen, what is to be the effect of their hurrying this nation into 
the jaws of a revolution, the end of which no man can foretell ? * * 
I beseech you to pause in these high-handed, these useless, these 
dangerous measures. Behold the stagnation, destruction, sorrow and 
death, which have already followed as the result of your legislation. 
Retaliation is an element of human nature. Long pent-up rage strikes 
with mighty force when its chains are broken. Your zealous, enthu- 
siastic, ambitious, and dangerous men, control the action of unthink- 
ing good men. The history of the past admonishes you — the uncer- 
tainty of the future warns you of what may follow. You are cer- 
tainly sowing the seeds of anarchy, destroying national credit, and 
disheartening our already despondent people. Be wise, be just, be 
humane while yet you can. The memories of the past, the hopes 
of the future, our own liberties, the liberties and prosperity of our 
children and of our children's children, are involved in the vote you 
this day give. As for me, if you this day impeach the President of 
the United States upon the evidence now hefore us, I shall consider 
our liberties less secure, properties less valuable, our national honor 
tarnished, our country disgraced, our rights invaded, and the future 
full of woe and untold disaster." 








V /2&?'Z4^r?^' 



WILLIAM H. BAK^TJM. 




>ILLIAM H. BARNUM was bora in Salisbury, Connecti- 
cut, September 17, 1817. He received a public school 
education, and at the age of eighteen engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits. From a small beginning he soon built up an extensive 
business, and to his mercantile establishment added an iron foundry. 
His success in business was uninterrupted, and its extension almost 
unexampled in this country. In 1851 he commenced the manufac- 
ture of pig iron in Canaan, Connecticut, and soon after engaged in 
mining and manufacturing Salisbury iron, the most celebrated in the 
world for car wheels and ordnance and for malleable purposes. His 
single iron furnace at Salisbury was soon multiplied until he had 
no less than six in successful operation. In 1862 he established a 
car wheel manufactory in Chicago, and soon after engaged in similar 
enterprises in Jersey City and Detroit. In 1866 he opened two 
mines, and erected iron furnaces on the shore of Lake Superior. He 
established a rolling mill for the manufacture of rails at Spuyten 
Duyvel, New York, and a manufactory of steel tire for locomotives 
in Worcester, Massachusetts. His widely extended enterprises furnish 
employment and subsistence for five thousand persons. 

In politics he has always been a Democrat. He was a member of 
the Connecticut State Legislature in 1851-52, and at the close of 
his term announced his determination never to hold political oftice 
again. In 1866, however, a nomination for Congress was thrust 
upon him against his will, and he was elected over P. T. Barnum, 
and was re-elected in 1868. He served on the Committees on 
Manufactures, on Roads and Canals, and on the Pacific Railroad. 
In Congress, without participating in general discussions, he has been 
attentive to the business of legislation and faithful to the interests 
of his constituents. 

Z*7 



FEBKASTOO O. BE AM AN. 




[ERNANDO C. BEAMAN was born in Chester, Windsor 
County, Vermont, June 28, 1814. At the age of five he 
removed with his parents to the State of New York, and 
received a good English education at the Franklin County Academy. 
At twenty-two years of age he entered upon the study of law at 
Rochester, "New York. In 1838 he removed to Michigan, where 
after pursuing his studies another year he was admitted to the bar, 
and commenced the practice of his profession, which he prosecuted 
with much success. 

Politically Mr. Beaman was a Democrat until 1S54, when the 
passage of the Nebraska act induced him to aid in the organization 
of the Republican party, of which he has remained one of the most 
devoted and conscientious adherents. For six years he held the office 
of prosecuting-attorney for Lenawee County, was judge of probate 
for four years, and in 1856 he was a presidential elector. In 1S60 
he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the Thirty-seventh 
Congress by a large majority, running ahead of the Republican 
electoral ticket some six hundred votes. He at once took an active 
part in legislation, and during his first Congressional term delivered 
two speeches which attracted attention, one on " Provisional Govern- 
ments for the Rebel States," and another on the " Confiscation of 
Rebel Property." He was re-elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, 
and served on the same committee and also on that on Territories. 
In the Thirty-ninth Congress he served on the Committees on Terri- 
tories, the Death of President Lincoln, and Frauds on the Revenue, 
and as chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals. In the 
Fortieth Congress he was a member of the Committees on Recon- 
struction and Appropriations. He was re-elected to the Forty-first 
Congress, receiving 22,197 votes against 20,595 for the Democratic 
candidate. 



JOHX BE ATT Y, 




( OHN BEATTT was born in Sandusky City, Ohio, Decern- 
ber 16, 1S28. Having obtained a good English educa- 
tion, he engaged in the business of banking at Cardington, 
in his native State. Meanwhile he was not neglectful of politics, and in 
1S60 he was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket. Partak- 
ing of the almost universal feeling of patriotic indignation that aroused 
the entire North at the fall of Fort-Sumter, early in April, 1861, he vol- 
unteered as a private in a company raised in his own town. Of this 
company he was immediately and unanimously elected Captain, and on 
the 19th of the month he reported with his men for duty to the Adju 
tant-General of Ohio. Eight days later he was elected Lieutenant Colo- 
nel of the 3d Ohio Infantry, of which his company was a part. 
This was originally a three months' regiment, but on the 12th of 
June it re-organized for three years' service, the field officers remain- 
ing the same. 

On the 23rd of June the regiment was sent to Western Virginia. 
During the summer and fall campaign in that, mountainous region. 
at Middle Fork, Rich Mountain, Cheat Mountain, and Elkwater, it 
manifested its own valor and the excellence of its officers. 

Transferred to Kentucky in November, the regiment was assigned 
to the old Third Division of the Army of the Ohio, commanded by 
General O. M. Mitchell. Soon after Lieutenant Colonel Beatty was 
promoted to the Colonelcy of his regiment. lie accompanied Gen- 
eral Mitchell in his campaign through Southern Kentucky, Middle 
Tennessee, and Northern Alabama. In the battle of Bridgeport, and 
in the operations about Decatur, Colonel Beatty took a conspicuous 
and efficient part. Having been appointed Provost Marshal of 

7 ■ 



2 JOHN BEATTY. 

Huntsville, he performed the duties of that office with fidelity and 
tact, 

Returning to Louisville with General Buell, in September, 1862, 
he joined in the pursuit of Bragg through Kentucky. On the 8th 
of October he fought at the head of his regiment in the battle of 
Perrysville. Holding the extreme right of General Rousseau's divi- 
sion, his regiment was assailed in both front and flank by an over- 
whelming force; and though in an hour's time one-third of his men 
were killed and wounded, Colonel Beatty held his ground until re- 
lieved by Colonel Pope with the 15th Kentucky. 

In December, 1802, Colonel Beatty assumed command of the old 
Seventeenth Brigade, which had been commanded previously by such 
men as Lytle and Dumont. In the Battle of Stone River, on 
Wednesday, the 31st of December, this brigade, forming part 
of Rousseau's division, assisted in checking the assault of Hardee. 
Colonel Beatty had two horses shot under him, but he came out un- 
injured. 

On Saturday night, January 3, 1863, he was ordered to attack the 
enemy's works lying near the Murfreesboro turnpike. Placing him- 
self at the head of his brigade, he charged over the rebel works, and 
carried them at the point of the bayonet. 

( Mi the 12th of March, 1863, he was commissioned Brigadier Gen- 
eral of Volunteers, to rank from the 20th of November, 1862. As- 
signed to the First Brigade of Negley's Division, he participated in 
the Tullahoma campaign. After the rebels had been driven out of 
that stronghold, he led the column which pursued them, skirmishing 
successfully with their rear guard until he gained the lofty plateau 
of the Cumberland. 

In the Chattanooga campaign Gen. Beatty had the honor of being 
the first t<. lead his command to the summit of Lookout Mountain. 
The rebels, after a feeble resistance at Johnson's Crook, retired rapidly 
before him. In the masterly retreat from Dug Gap, which elicited 
warm commendation from both General Rosecrane and General 

Tl las, General Beatty was assigned by General Negley to the 

responsible and difficult duty of protecting and bringing away a large 



JOHN BEATTY. 3 

wagon-train ii. the face of an immense force of Kebels. Not a single 
wagon fell into the enemy's hands. 

In the battle of Chickamauga, General Beatty commenced the 
fighting, both on the 19th and 20th of September; the first day upon 
the extreme right, and the second upon the extreme left of the line. 
Assailed early on the morning of the 19th, he had scarcely repulsed 
the enemy after a fight of three hours' duration, and held his ground, 
when he was ordered to the centre of the line late in the afternoon. On 
Sunday morning he reported to General Thomas with his command, 
and was placed on the extreme left, along the Lafayette road, with 
orders to hold it at all hazards. Hour after hour, with his compara- 
tively feeble force, he maintained his position against the masses of 
the foe which surged around him. lie was reinforced at last by 
Colonel T. R. Stanley with his brigade, and, in conjunction, they 
charged and drove the Rebels half a mile, capturing a large part of 
General Adams's Louisiana brigade, with its leader at its head. 
Later in the day, General Beatty was among the heroes who held 
the last position against the combined efforts of the Rebel army. 
Again, on the 21st, while in position near Rossville, a heavy recon- 
noitering column attacked his brigade, but it was driven back with 
considerable loss. 

In the re-organization of the army, General Beatty was assigned 
to the Second Brigade of Davis's division, and during the operations 
which resulted in the expulsion of the Rebels from Mission Ridge 
and Lookout Mountain, his command held the left of the line. 
Though not actively engaged at that time, he joined with great 
vigor in pursuit of the retreating foe. On the 20th of November, 
General Beatty, in conjunction with Colonel Daniel McCook, over- 
took the Rebel General Maury at Graysville, and after a short con- 
flict entirely defeated him. 

On the 1st of December General Davis's division commenced its 
march toward Knoxville, for the relief of General Burnside, not re- 
turning to its camp at Chattanooga until the 18th of the same 
month. General Beatty participated in this march, sharing fully 
the fatigues and hardships of the humblest soldier in the command. 



4 JOHN BEATTT. 

On the 13th of January, 1864, he resigned his commission, and re- 
turned to the pursuits of a civilian. 

Hon. C. S. Hamilton, member of the Fortieth Congress from the 
Eighth Ohio District, having been killed by an insane son near the 
commencement of his term, General Beatty was elected to till the 
vacancy. This election, being the first held after the defection of 
President Johnson from the Republican party, was regarded with 
much interest by the entire country. The election of General 
Beatty in a doubtful district, over his Democratic competitor, was 
the first triumph of Congress over President Johnson before the 
people. 

General Beatty took an active part in the campaign which result- 
ed in the elevation of General Grant to the Presidency, and was 
himself at the same time re-elected to the Forty-first Congress. 



-kr^ 



JAMES B. BECK. 




! AMES B. BECK was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, Feb- 
ruary 13, 1822. He emigrated to the United States when 
sixteen years of age, and graduated at Transylvania Uni- 
versity, Kentucky, in 1846. He studied law, and locating in Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, devoted himself wholly to the practise of his pro- 
fession — a part of the time in partnership with John C. Breckin- 
ridge. In 1S67 he was elected a Representative from Kentucky to 
the Fortieth Congress, and after some delay was admitted to his seat 
December 3, 1867. He was appointed a member of the Committee 
on Reconstruction, and at once took a prominent and leading part 
on the side of the minority. No member of the Democratic party in 
Congress made more speeches requiring profound research and legal 
argumentation. There is scarcely a phase of the Reconstruction 
question as it came up in the Fortieth Congress on which Mr. Beck 
did not place upon the record the views of the minority. January 15, 
1868, he opposed the Supplementary Reconstruction bill, in an elab- 
orate speech, " because it asserts there were no civil governments in 
those States, and because it attempts to prevent the Executive and 
the judicial power from interfering, and by virtue of the power and 
authority vested in them by the Constitution, protecting the people 
of these States from legislative usurpation." February 1, he pre- 
sented an able argument maintaining the right of John Young 
Brown of Kentucky, to a seat in Congress. February 22, he spoke 
against impeachment, arguing that the President was justified in the 
removal of Stanton for the purpose of testing the constitutionality 
of the Tenure of Office bill. March 11, he addressed the House in 
opposition to the bill for admitting Alabama, the passage of which 

1' 



2 JAMES B. BECK. 

he declared would be almost conclusive that Republican institutions 
are a failure. " This is the first time," said he, " so far as I am 
aware, that the majority have gone to the length now proposed, to 
repudiate all their own acts, override all their own laws, and 
unblushingly and avowedly punish the people of a great State for 
doing what this Congress solemnly declared it was right, proper, and 
lawful for them to do." 

He subsequently presented a minority report, signed by Mr. 
Brooks and himself, protesting against the admission of Alabama 
under a constitution not adopted by the voters of the State. May 
8, he made a speech against the admission of i^rkansas, alleging 
that the Constitution under which it was proposed to reconstruct the 
State was " defeated by an overwhelming majority." May 13, he 
presented an elaborate argument opposing the bill admitting North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia to representation, 
for the reason, among others, that their proposed Constitutions " all 
fasten universal, unlimited, and perpetual negro suffrage on that 
people." July 24, 1868, he spoke at length against the bill to pro- 
vide for the more speedy reorganization of the States of Virginia, 
Mississippi, and Texas, asserting in conclusion that he saw " nothing 
but evil " in the bill. January 19, 1869, he spoke in opposition to 
a bill relating to suits in the rebel States, as " an unnecessary and 
improper interference with the jurisdiction of the Courts of the sev- 
eral States." January 2S, he made an elaborate and able reply to 
Mr. Boutwell, in opposition to the resolution proposing the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution, maintaining that " the principles 
involved strike down the columns that support the temple of liberty 
itself." 



-? s~$" 



JOHST F. BESTJAMI^r. 




f OHN FORBES BENJAMIN is a native of New York, and 
was born in Cicero, Onondaga County, of that State, Jan^ 
uary 23, 1S17; his ancestors being of the Knickerbocker 
Dutch stock. He received such an education as the common schools 
of the country afforded. He commenced school teaching at sixteen, 
and continued thus employed, except at intervals, daring the live 
succeeding years. During this period, his leisure hours were dili- 
gently devoted to studies, having in view the legal profession. At- 
taining his majority, and being destitute of resources, during the six 
succeeding years he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and while thus 
occupied the study of law was kept steadily in view. 

In lS4-t Mr. Benjamin was induced to emigrate to the great West. 
He went first to Northern Illinois, but during the succeeding winter, 
being prostrated with fever, he was led to the conclusion that a 
milder climate was indispensable to his full recovery. He accord- 
ingly removed with his family to Texas, reaching Galveston in the 
following spring, and in very delicate health. Here for three years 
he engaged in mercantile pursuits, contemplating, meanwhile, in 
connection with others, the business of sheep raising, for which the 
beautiful prairies and fine climate of Texas seemed to them well 
adapted. The disturbances, however, connected with the Mexican 
war interfered with this plan, while the yellow fever, raging in 18-17, 
in Galveston, seized upon Mr. Benjamin as one of its vietims. He 
survived the attack, but as soon as he was sufficiently recovered he 
returned northward and settled in Shelby County, Missouri. 

Presently another fever of a different character — the "California 



- 






2 JOHN F. BENJAMIN. 

gold fever" — attacked him, and with a great multitude similarly- 
affected, he was soon wending his way over the plains towards the 
Pacific. Both his Texan and Californian enterprises appear to have 
been successful ; and, on his return from the West, he applied him- 
self with great diligence to the fulfilment of his long-cherished plan 
of engaging in the law. He plunged at once into the preparatory 
studies, was soon admitted to the bar, and at once, and apparently 
with but slight effort, attained to the front rank of his profession. 
As a successful advocate, he is said to have no superior in the State 
of Missouri. 

Elected to the State Legislature, Mr. Benjamin soon became a 
prominent and leading member of that body — bearing an active part 
in inaugurating various important measures tending to the prosper- 
ity of the State. Until the rebellion, he was a firm and consistent 
Democrat ; rendering able support to Buchanan in 1856, and after- 
wards to Douglas in 1860. He declared boldly against the Breckin- 
ridge movement as being charged with treason, and designed by its 
leaders to plunge the country into civil war. The story of Missouri, 
as the result of Mr. Lincoln's election, need not be repeated here. 
The agitation there, the widespread spirit of rebellion, and the fixed 
determination to carry the State along with the other slave States 
into secession are facts familiar to every one. 

Among the foremost in resisting this tide of ruin was Mr. Benja- 
min ; and he soon became of course an object of bitter rebel hostility. 
He was dragged from his home and family at midnight, and by armed 
traitors hurried off to their camp, twenty miles distant. Being re- 
leased, he at once placed his affairs in order and joined the army as 
a private. He was soon commissioned as captain, then successively 
as major, lieut.-colonel,' and finally as brigadier-general ; and par- 
ticipated in many battles. In 1864 he was nominated for Congress 
and elected by a large majority, and was subsequently twice re- 
elected. In the Fortieth Congress he served on the Committees on 
Retrenchment, and on Invalid Pensions, and was chairman of the 
the last-named committee in the Forty-first Congress. 



JACOB BENTOE". 



>, 




*ACOB BENTON was born in Waterford, Vermont, August 
14. 1S19. His ancestors were from Connecticut ; his grand- 
father owned a part of the present site of the city of Hart- 
ford. He attended Newbury Seminary, and graduated at Manchester, 
Vermont. He engaged in teaching, and was four years principal of 
an academy in Concord, New Hampshire. Meanwhile he com- 
menced the study of law with Judge Bellows, and completed his prep- 
aration for the bar under the direction of General Young, with whom 
he subsequently formed a partnership in Lancaster, New Hampshire, 
where he has continued to reside. He pursued a most successful 
practice of his profession, interrupted only by the demands of public 
service in the offices to which he has been elected by the people. In 
1854 he was elected a Representative in the New Hampshire Legis- 
lature, in which he made active and successful efforts to secure the 
election of John P. Hale to the Senate of the United States. He 
was for several years brigadier-general of the State Militia. In 1860 
he was married to Louisa D wight, daughter of General Neal Dow, 
of Portland, Maine. In 1866 he was elected a Representative from 
New Hampshire to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected two 
years later. As a member of the Joint Committee on Retrenchment 
he took part in proposing and advocating important legislation. He 
opposed the taxation of the United States bonds, and also advocated 
the payment of the national debt without deviation from the spirit 
or letter of the law. In February, 1868, ho made a speech on Recon- 
struction, which, as a review of the record of the Democratic party, 
and the policy of President Johnson, attracted much attention, and 
was extensively circulated throughout the country as a campaign 

document. ^ 

1 «/ 



JOHN A. BINGHAM. 




OHN" A. BINGHAM is a native of Pennsylvania, and was 
born in 1815. After studying at an academy, he spent two 
years in a printing office, and then entered Franklin Col- 
lege, Ohio, but poor health prevented him from advancing to gradu- 
ation. He entered upon the study of law in 1838, and at the end 
of two years was admitted to the bar. From 1S40 to 1851, he dili- 
gently and successfully practiced the profession in which he attained 
distinguished eminence. In the latter year he was elected a Repre- 
sentative in Congress, and has been a member of every subsequent 
Congress except the Thirty-eighth. 

In 1864, Mr. Bingham was appointed a Judge-Advocate in the 
Army, serving six months in that capacity. He was subsequently 
appointed, by President Lincoln, Solicitor in the Court of Claims, 
and held the office until March 4, 1865, when he became a member 
of the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

Mr. Bingham served as Special Judge-Advocate in the great trial 
of the assassination conspirators. Immense labor devolved upon 
him during this difficult and protracted trial. For six weeks Mr. 
Bingham's arduous duties allowed him but brief intervals for rest. 
He occupied nine hours in the delivery of the closing argument, in 
which he ably elucidated the testimony, and conclusively proved the 
guilt of the conspirators. 

Mr. Bingham's success in this great trial attracted general attention, 
and awakened a wide-spread curiosity to know his history. Soon 
after the close of the trial, a correspondent of the Philadelphia Press 
having expressed the deep interest he had felt in arriving at a well- 




'; (? 







JOHN A. BINGHAM. 9 

founded conclusion as to "the guilt of the prisoners and the constitu- 
tionality of the court," proceeded : 

" Grant me space in your columns to give expression to my most 
unqualified admiration of the groat arguments, on these two main 
points, presented to the Court by the Special Judge- Advocate-Gen- 
eral, John A. Bingham. In the entire range of my reading, I have 
known of no productions that have so literally led me captive. 

"For careful analysis, logical argumentation, profound and most 
extensive research ; for overwhelming unravelment of complications 
that would have involved an ordinary mind only with inextricable 
bewilderment, and for a literal rending to tatters of all the meta- 
physical subtleties of the array of legal talent engaged on the other 
side, I know of no two productions in the English languag • Buperior 
to these. They are literally, as the spear of Ithuriel, dissolving 
the hardest substances at their touch; as the thread of DcedaluB, 
leading out of labyrinths of error, no matter how thick and mazy. 
Not Locke or Bacon were more profound ; not Daniel Webster 
was clearer and more penetrating ; not Chillingworth was more 
logical. 

" I feel sure that the author of these two unrivaled papers must 
possess a legal mind unrivaled in America, and must be, too, one of 
our rising statesmen. But who is John A. Bingham, who. by his 
industry and learning displayed on this wonderful trial, has placed 
the country under such a heavy debt of obligation ? He may be 
well known to others moving in a public sphere, like yourself, but to 
me, so absorbed in a different line of duty, he has appeared so sud- 
denly, and yet with such vividness, that I long to know some, at 
least, of hifi antecedents." 

Upon which the Editor remarked : "The question of our esteemed 
correspondent is natural to one who has not, probably, watched the 
individual actors on the great stage of public affaire with the interest 
of the historical and political student. We are not surprised that 
the arguments of Mr. Bingham before the Military Commission 
should have filled him with delight. It was worthy of the great 



3 JOHN A. BINGHAM. 

subject confided to that accomplished statesman by the Government, 
and of his own fame. 

" When the assassins of Mr. Lincoln were sent for trial before the 
Military Court by President Johnson, the Government wisely left 
the whole management to Judge Holt and his eloquent associate, Mr. 
Bingham ; and to the latter was committed the stupendous labor of 
sifting the mass of evidence, of replying to the corps of lawyers for 
the defense, of setting forth the guilt of the accused, and of vindica- 
ting the policy and the duty of the Executive in an exigency so novel 
and so full of tragic solemnity. The crime was so enormous, and the 
trial of those who committed it so important in all its issues, imme- 
diate, contingent, and remote, as to awaken an excitement that 
embraced all nations. The murder itself was almost forgotten by 
those who wished to screen the murderers, and the most wicked 
theories were broached and sown broadcast by men who, under cloak 
of reverence for what they called the law, toiled with herculean energy 
to weaken the arm of the Government, extended, in time of war, to 
save the servants of the people from being slaughtered by assassins 
in public places, and tracked even to their own firesides by the agents 
and fiends of Slavery. These poisons of plausibility, blunting the 
sharpest horrors of any age, and sanctifying the most herlish offenses, 
required an antidote as swift to cure. Mr. Bingham's two great 
arguments, alluded to by our correspondent, have supplied the 
remedy. They are monuments of reflection, research, and argu- 
mentation ; and they are presented in the language of a scholar, ami 
with the fervor of an orator. In the great volume of proof and 
counter-proof, rhetoric and controversy, that for ever preserves the 
record of this great trial, the efforts of Mr. Bingham will ever re- 
main to be first studied with an eager and admiring interest. That 
they came after all that has and can be said against the Govern- 
ment, is rather an inducement to their more satisfactory and critical 
consideration. For from that study the American student and citi- 
zen must, more than ever, realize how irresistible is Truth when in 
conflict with Falsehood, and how poor and puerile are all the pro- 



JOHN A. BINGHAM. 4 

fessional tricks of the lawyer when opposed to the moral power of 
the patriot/' 

In Congress, Mr. Bingham has had a distinguished career, marked 
by important services to the country. In the Thirty-seventh Congress 
he was earnest and successful in advocating many important measures 
to promote the vigorous prosecution of the war, which had just begun. 
Returning to Congress in 1865, after an absence of two years, he at 
once took a prominent position. Upon the formation of the Joint 
Committee on Reconstruction, December 14, 1865, he was appointed 
one of the nine members on the part of the House. He was active in 
advocating the great measures of Reconstruction which were proposed 
and passed in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. The House 
of Representatives having resolved that Andrew Johnson should be 
impeached for " high crimes and misdemeanors," Mr. Bingham was 
appointed on the Committee to which was intrusted the important 
duty of drawing up the Articles of Impeachment. This work having 
been done to the satisfaction of the House, Mr. Bingham was elected 
Chairman of the Managers to conduct the Impeachment of the Presi- 
dent before the Senate. On him devolved the duty of making the 
closing argument. His speech on this occasion ranks among the 
greatest forensic efforts of any age. He began the delivery of his 
argument on Monday, May 4th, and occupied the attention of the 
Senate and a vast auditory on the floor and in the galleries during 
three successive days. At the close of his argument, the immense 
audience in the galleries, wrought up to the highest pitch of 
enthusiasm, gave vent to such an unanimous and continued outburst of 
applause as had never before been heard in the Capitol. Ladies and 
gentlemen, who could not have been induced deliberately to trespass 
on the decorum of the Senate, by whose courtesy they were admitted 
to the galleries, overcome by their feelings, joined in the utterance 
of applaux". knowing that torso doing the Sergeant-at-Arms would 
be required to expel them from the galleries. The history of the 
country records no similar tribute to the oratorial efforts of the ablest 

advocates or statesmen. 

18 



W. JASPER BLACKBURN. 




JASPER BLACKBURN was born in Arkansas, and 
became a printer by profession. Locating in Homer, 
Louisiana, he published the Homer " Iliad," and had 
this presses twice destroyed on account of his fearless expressions of 
Union and Republican sentiments. He was elected a Representa- 
tive to the Fortieth Congress from the Fifth District of Louisiana, 
and was admitted to his seat July 18, 1868. He introduced a bill to 
relieve all American citizens from the legal and political disabilities 
imposed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Feb- 
ruary 13, 1869, he addressed the House on " the condition of the 
country," and "the duties of the Government," in which he 
depicted an unhappy state of affairs in the South, and said : " I can 
very plainly and candidly tell gentlemen who may feel anxious on 
the Southern situation that we shall never have peace down there 
until white men are allowed as much and as many privileges, polit- 
ically, as the negro has." 

In a speech favoring the suffrage amendment, January 30, 1869, 
Mr. Blackburn said : " I can assure Northern gentlemen that there 
was always in the South, both previous to and after the abolition of 
slavery, more kindly personal feeling toward the negro than I have 
ever heard of existing toward him among the people of the North. 
The meanest masters I ever knew were men who came from the North, 
as rash and fanatical abolitionists, and who, after their cupidity 
had overcome their philanthropy and patriotism, and they became 
the owners of slaves, knew no end to their exactions and no limit to 
their tortures. It comes then, gentlemen, with poor grace from any 
of you to object to the enfranchisement of the few colored men 
am.»ng yourselves, after you have freed by force the slaves of the 
South, and enfranchised them to a man." 





y^^z^^^ 






2 JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE. 

he takes at all tinies a very active and prominent part in the business 
and in the debates of the House. 

During the Thirty-eighth Congress, Mr. Blaine made a speech on 
the subject of the General Government assuming the " war debts of 
the loyal States," in the course of which he discussed at some length 
the ability of the nation to prosecute the war in which we were then 
so desperately engaged. This feature of Mr. Blaine's speech attracted 
great attention at the time, and it was made one of the Campaign 
Documents by the Union Eepublican party in the Presidential 
struggle of 1864. 

During the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. Blaine bore an active and 
conspicuous part in the legislation on measures of reconstruction. 
Early in January, 1866, Mr. Blaine introduced a resolution, which 
was referred to the Keconstruction Committee, and was made the 
basis of that part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution 
regulating the matter of Congressional Eepresentation. Before the 
introduction of Mr. Blaine's resolution, the tendency had been to 
base representation directly on the voting population ; but this was 
entirely changed ; and it appears that the first resolution, looking to 
the modification, was introduced by Mr. Blaine, and supported by 
a >peech which, at the time, attracted much attention. 

During the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, Mr. 
Blaine's participation in the Keconstruction legislation was promi- 
nent and influential. The "Blaine Amendment," bo well known in 
the public reports at the time, was moved by Mr. Blaine as a modifi- 
cation of Mr. Stevens' Military Bill. It was not adopted in pre- 
cisely the form originally introduced by Mr. Blaine, but the measure 
since known as the "Howard Amendment," and sometimes as the 
"Sherman Amendment," as finally moved in the Senate, is substan- 
tially the same as originally proposed by Mr. Blaine in the House. 
In the financial discussions of the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Blaine 
has been specially prominent. At the very opening of the Decern 
ber -e->ion, 1867, Mr. Blaine made an elaborate speech reviewing 
and opposing the Pendleton theory of the payment of our bonds 



JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE. 3 

in greenbacks. At various times subsequently, lie took prominent 
part in upholding the public credit and the national faith. In Mr. 
Blaine's first speech he closed with the following declarations, which 
coincided with singular accuracy with the conclusions since reached 
and enunciated by the Republican party in its National platform : 

" The remedy for our financial troubles, Mr. Chairman, will not be 
found in a superabundance of depreciated paper currency. It lies in 
the opposite direction ; and the sooner tlie nation finds itself on a 
specie basis, the sooner will the public Treasury be freed from embar- 
rassment, and private business relieved from discouragement. Instead, 
therefore, of entering upon a reckless and boundless issue of legal ten- 
ders, with their consequent depression, if not destruction of value, let 
us set resolutely to work and make those already in circulation equal 
to so many gold dollars. When that result shall be accomplished, we 
can proceed to pay our five-twenties either in coin or paper, for the 
one w r ould be the equivalent of the other. But to proceed deliber- 
ately on a scheme of depreciating our legal tenders, and then forcing 
the holders of Government bonds to accept them in payment, would 
resemble in point of honor the policy of a merchant who, with abun- 
dant resources and prosperous business, should devise a plan for throw- 
ing discredit on his own notes with the view of having them bought 
up at a discount ruinous to the holders and immensely profitable to 
his own knavish pocket. This comparison may faintly illustrate the 
wrongfulness of the policy, but not its consummate folly ; for in the 
case of the Government, unlike the merchant, the stern necessity 
would recur of making good in the end, by the payment of hard coin, 
all the discount that might be gained by the temporary substitution 
of paper. 

"Discarding all such schemes as at once unworthy and unprofitable, 
let us direct our policy steadily, but not rashly, toward the resump- 
tion of specie payment. Ami when we have attained thai end- easily 
attainable at no distant day if the proper p< licy be pursued — we can 
all unite on some honorable plan for the redemption of the five-twenty 
bonds, and the issuing instead thereof a new series of bonds which 

7-- 



4 JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE. 

can be more favorably placed at a lower rate of interest. When we 
shall have reached the specie basis, the value of United States securi- 
ties will be so high in the money markets of the world that we can 
command our own terms. We can then call in our five-twenties ac- 
cording to the very letter and spirit of the bond, and adjust a new 
loan that will be eagerly sought for by capitalists, and will be free 
from those elements of discontent that in some measure surround the 
existing funded debt of the country." 

Mr. Blaine is an indefatigable worker, an accurate statistician, a 
logical reasoner, and a fluent speaker. He possesses thorough knowl- 
edge of parliamentary law. His tact in discharging the duties of 
presiding officer has often been tested by his temporary occupancy 
of the Speaker's Chair. Whether in the Chair or on the floor of the 
House, he always maintains his self-possession, dignity, and good 
humor. A sprightly correspondent of the New York Tribune thus 
describes his appearance near the close of the Thirty-ninth Congress : 
" Mr. Blaine, whose amendment excites the opposition of the great 
Pennsylvanian, is metallic; you cannot conceive how a shot should 
pierce him, for there seem no joints to his harness. He is a man 
who knows what the weather was yesterday morning in Dakota, 
what the Emperor's policy will be touching Mexico, on what day of 
the week the 16th of December proximo will fall, who is the chair- 
man of the school committee in Kennebunk, what is the best way 
of managing the National Debt, together with all the other interests 
of to-day, which anybody else would stagger under. How he does it, 
nobody knows. He is always in his seat. He must absorb details 
by assimilation at his finger ends. As I said, he is clear metal. His 
features are made in a mould ; his attitudes are those of a bronze 
figure; his voice clinks; and, as you know, he has ideas fixed as 
brass." 







C^Ccc^^U^ v c>Lc&^j 



AUSTIN BLAIR. 




U MONG the loyal and faithful Governors who cordially co- 
operated with President Lincoln in putting down the Rebel- 
lion, none deserve more honorable mention than Austin 
Blair, of Michigan. He was born February 8, 1818, in the town of 
Caroline, Tompkins County, New York. His ancestors were from 
Scotland, emigrating to America in the time of George I. The fam- 
ily, from generation to generation, seems to have pursued the business 
of farming. The subject of this sketch was the first who interfered with 
this arrangement, to become a professional man. The education of his 
boyhood was at the common school, until, at seventeen, he was 
sent to the Seminary at Cazenovia, New York, where he remained a 
3'ear and a half. He then entered Hamilton College, at Clinton, 
New York, becoming a member of the Sophomore class. Here he 
pursued his studies to the middle of his Junior year, when he entered 
Union College, Schenectady, being attracted thither by the great 
reputation of President Nott. Here he was graduated in 1830, and 
never re-visited his Alma Mater, until, in 18GS, he delivered the an- 
nual address before the literary societies of that Institution. 

After leaving college, Mr. Blair read law for two years, in the 
office of Sweet & Davis, at Owego, X. Y. At the end of tin- time 
he was admitted to the bar. lie immediately emigrated to Michigan, 
and commenced practice at Jackson, the place of his presenl resi- 
dence. In a shorl time he removed to Eaton Rapids; and after re- 
maining there two years, he returned to Jackson, and engaged actively 
in the practice of hi- profession. While at Eaton Rapids, he was, in 
Ls42, eli-ete<l to the office of County Clerk, which was hi- tii--' rffioe. 



2 AUSTIN BLAIR. 

At this time Mr. Blair was a Whig in politics, and in 1844 joined 
in the canvass for Henry Clay with great zeal ; and, two years later 
he was sent to the lower house of the State Legislature. In 1848, he 
refused any longer to support the Whig ticket, and for two reasons : 
first, because of his great partiality for Mr. Clay, whom the nomina- 
ting convention passed by inlavor of General Taylor; and, secondly 
and principally, because of his decided anti-slavery sentiments. 

After the nomination of General Taylor, Mr. Blair attended the 
convention at Buffalo which put in nomination Van Buren and 
Adams. This ticket he supported with all his might, not that he 
cherished any hope of success, but that he thought it was time for a 
beginning to be made in the right direction. 

In 1852 he was elected Prosecuting- Attorney of Jackson County, 
holding that office during two years. In 1854, Mr. Blair actively 
participated in the proceedings at the convention at Jackson, which 
resulted in the foundation of the Republican party in Michigan. 
This convention brought together the anti-slavery men of the Whig 
and Free-Soil parties in that State, and resulted in a complete tri- 
umph over the Democracy at the Fall election. lie was, at this time, 
chosen a Senator in the State Legislature. In 1856, he was an ear- 
nest supporter of Fremont and Dayton. At the November election 
of 1S60, Mr. Blair was chosen Governor of Michigan, and he entered 
upon his executive duties in the following January. Fully aware of 
the perilous position in which the country had been placed by the 
spirit of rebellion which then pervaded the Southern States, and 
foreseeing the inevitable collision, he commenced his official career 
with a full appreciation of the responsibilities of his office. His ju- 
dicious and prompt administration of military affairs in the State, 
soon distinguished him as possessing great executive ability, ardent 
love of country and true devotion to the interests and honor o his 
State. These characteristics soon secured for him the confidence of 
the people of both political parties, which he retained during his en 
tire four years' administration. 

The inaugural of Governor Blair, which was a profound and philo- 



AUSTIN BLAIR. 3 

Bophical discussion of the true nature of our form of government, 
and of the real signification of the existing and impending issues, 
closed with these emphatic words : 

"It is a question of war that the seceding States have to look in 
the face. They who think that this powerful Government can be 
disrupted peacefully, have read history to no purpose. The sons of 
the men who carried arms in the Seven Years' War with the m. >st ] m >\v- 
erful nation in the world, to establish this Government, will not hesi- 
tate to make equal sacrifices to maintain it. Most deeply must we 
deplore the unnatural contest. On the heads of the traitors who 
provoke it, must rest the responsibility. In such a contest the God 
of battles lias no attribute that can take sides with the revolutionists 
of the Slave States. 

" I recommend you at an early day to make manifest to the gentle- 
men who represent this State in the two Houses of Congress, and to 
the country, that Michigan is loyal to the Union, the Constitution, 
and the haws, and will defend them to the uttermost; and to proffer 
to the President of the United States the whole military power of 
the State for that purpose. Oh, for the firm, steady hand of a Wash- 
ington, or a Jackson, to guide the ship of State in this perilous storm. 
Let us hope that we shall find him on the 4th of March. Meantime, 
let us abide in the faith of our fathers — ' Liberty and Union, one 
and inseparable, now and for ever.' " 

Marshaled by such a leader, the Legislature was neither timid nor 
slow in declaring the loyalty of Michigan to the Onion. In joint 
resolution, offered February 2, 1861, it declared its adherence to the 
Government of the United States, tendered it all the military power 
and material resources of the State, and declared that concession and 
compromise were not to be offered to traitors. Still, nothing defi- 
nite was done; no actual defensive or aggressive military steps were 
taken, until rebel foolhardiness precipitated the struggle thai had be- 
come inevitable, by converging upon Fori Sumter the tire of the en- 

circling batteries of Charleston Earbor. < >u April L2, L861, the 
news was received at Detroit thai the rebels at Charleston had ao- 



4: AUSTIN BLAIR. 

tually inaugurated civil war by firing upon Fort Sumter. This in- 
telligence created much excitement, and in view of the uncertainty of 
coming events, the people commenced looking around to estimate how 
united they would be in the cause of the Union. On the following 
day, a meeting of the Detroit Bar, presided over by the venerable 
Judge Ross Wilkins, was held, and resolutions were adopted pledging 
that community to " stand by the Government to the last," and re- 
pudiating the treason of the South. By the following Monday, April 
15, when the surrender of the South Carolina fortress was known 
throughout the land, and the call of the President for 75,000 volun- 
teers had been received, the entire State was alive to the emergencies 
and the duties of the hour, and the uprising of the people was uni- 
versal. Public meetings were held in all the cities and most of the 
towns, pledges of assistance to the nation in its hour of peril made, 
and volunteering briskly commenced. 

On Tuesday, April 16, Governor Blair arrived in Detroit, and 
during the day he issued a proclamation calling for a regiment of 
volunteers, and ordering the Adjutant-General to accept the first ten 
companies that should offer, and making it the duty of that officer 
to issue all the necessary orders and instructions in detail. The move- 
ment thus inaugurated did not slacken in impetus nor lessen in ardor. 
The State responded to the call of its authorities most promptly. 
The patriotism of the people was in a blaze, war meetings were 
held in every town, and the tender of troops from all points in the 
State far exceeded the requisition. 

The first call made by the President upon Michigan for troops to 
aid in the suppression of the rebellion, was, as before stated, for one 
regiment only, which was promptly met by the muster into ser- 
vice of the First regiment, and that was soon followed by the second. 
At the same time several other regiments were persistently pressing 
for service, and some were authorized to organize without provision 
of law, -while many companies found service in other States. In the 
meantime the organization of the Third and Fourth regiments had 
been commenced on the responsibility of the Governor alone, and 






AUSTIN BLAIR. 5 

while that was in progress, he received instructions from the War 
Department to discontinue the raising of more troops, and that it was 
important to reduce, rather than enlarge the number. 

The Governor, foreseeing an immediate necessity for preparation to 
meet coming emergencies and future calls, assumed the responsibility 
of establishing a camp of instruction at Fort "Wayne, near Detroit, 
for the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Fifth, Sixth, and 
Seventh regiments ; and on the 21st of May, companies were assigned 
to those regiments, and their officers were ordered to assemble at Fort 
Wayne on the 19th of June. 

A course of instruction followed, with much success, until August 1, 
when the camp was broken up and the force sent to various localities 
to recruit their men and organize the regiments. This was accom- 
plished with astonishing promptness, the Sixth being mustered in 
August 20th ; the Seventh, August 22d ; and the Fifth, August 28th. 
All had left for the field prior to the 12th of September. 

The establishment of the Camp of Instruction attracted much at- 
tention in other States, and most favorable comments from public jour- 
nals. It has always been considered in Michigan as a most judicious 
and eminently successful effort, its value becoming more and more 
apparent as the war progressed, not only in the efficiency of these 
particular regiments, but in many others having the benefit of offi- 
cers who had received the instruction of the camp. 

The law of Congress of August 3d, had authorized the President to 
receive into service 500,000 volunteers. The proportion of Michigan 
was understood at the time to be 19,500. In response t<» this requi- 
sition, the State continued recruiting, sending regiment after regimenl 
to the field ; and up to the end of December, had sent to the front 
three regiments of cavalry, one of engineera and mechanics, twelve 
of infantry, two companies of cavalry for the " Merrill Eorse," two 
companies for 1st and 2d regiments U. S. Sharp-shooters, and five 
batteries. 

In reaponse to the call of the Presided of October IT. L863, for 
300,000 more, Governor Blair issued his proclamation for the Michi- 



6 AUSTIN BLAIR. 

gan quo fa of 11,298, in which he makes use of the following stirring 
language. 

" This call is for soldiers to fill the ranks of the regiments in the 
field, — those regiments which by long and gallant service have wasted 
their numbers in the same proportion that they have made a distin- 
guished name, both for themselves and the State. The people of 
Michigan will recognize this as a duty already too long delayed. 
Our young men, I trust, will hasten to stand beside the heroes of An- 
tietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Stone River, and Chicamauga." 

The Governor's stirring proclamation, and the patriotic response of 
the people of Michigan, immediately followed each successive call of 
the President for volunteers. 

During his four years' administration, Governor Blair devoted his 
entire time, talents, and energies to the duties of his office. When he 
left the Executive chair, he had sent into the field eighty-three 
thousand three hundred and forty-seven soldiers. In his message de- 
livered to the Legislature, January 4, 1865, he greeted them most affec- 
tionately from the Capitol of the State, on vacating the chair which 
he had so well filled and so highly honored during the years of the 
war that had passed. 

July 4, 1867, G-OV. Blair delivered an oration at the laying of the 
corner-stone of the Michigan Soldiers' Monument. It comprised an 
able and faithful resume of the principal conflicts ot the war, re- 
viewing in considerable detail the prominent part taken in those 
blood v scenes by the brave and hardy troops of Michigan. 

The brief Congressional record of Gov. Blair is what might lie ex- 
pected from the antecedents of the man. He is an earnest Republi- 
can, a Btrong friend and supporter of the Reconstruction measures, and 
a stern enemy to every form of repudiation, and to vwvy tendency in 
that fatal direction. His speech upon the national finances on the 
floor of the House, March 21, 1868, is eminently just and convincing, 
and such as could hardly fail of commending itself to all fair and 
honest mind-. 



THOMAS BOLES. 




[HOMAS BOLES was born near Clarksville, Arkansas, July 
16, 1837. His parents were devoted Christians and very 
attentive to the moral training of their children. As schools 
were few, and of brief duration, opportunities for education were 
limited. The subject of this sketch had not the privilege of attend- 
ing school more than a year in all, a sufficient time, however, to give 
him a taste for reading and study. By improving his time at night, 
after the day's work on the farm was done, he succeeded in acquiring 
a good English education. In 1854, he taught school in an adjoining 
neighborhood, and continued this employment during parts of the 
two years succeeding, thus enjoying additional opportunities for self- 
culture, which he did not fail to improve. 

As soon as he attained his majority, he was employed by the sheriff 
of the county as his deputy. In 1859, he was appointed deputy clerk 
of the Circuit Court by Judge Pound, then clerk of Yell County. 
While in this office he had access to a law library, and devoted his 
spare time to study under the direction of Judge Pound. In the fall 
of 1860, he obtained license to practise as an attorney-at-law and 
solicitor in chancery. 

In the presidential election of 1860, the race in Arkansas was 
between Breckenridge, Bell, and Douglass, there being no Lincoln 
electoral ticket nominated in that State. Mr. Boles espoused the cause 
of Mr. Douglas, but with no hope of success in Arkansas, since the 
secession element was predominant in that State. After the elec- 
tion, he took decided ground in favor of the Union, ami hail the sat- 
isfaction of seeing his county, which had been strongly Democratic, 
give a majority of five hundred votes against the secession of the 
State. 

The Rebellion was, however, soon fully inaugurated, and swept 



2 THOMAS BOLES. 

ever the State with resistless fury, bearing down everything before it. 
Young men who would not enter the rebel army were branded as 
cowards, and were insulted by every ingenious device that rebel 
women could invent. Being of a frail constitution, Mr. Boles pleaded 
physical disability as an excuse for not entering the rebel service. 
He was subsequently drafted and taken into conscript headquarters 
where he was kept two or three weeks, but his health became so bad 
that he was allowed to return home. 

In the summer of 1862, an organization was formed in that locality 
called the "Union League," into which Mr. Bules was actively em- 
ployed in initiating members. Often, during dark and stormy nights, 
he met refugees in the mountains to receive them into the organiza- 
tion, and inform them of the whereabouts of their pursuers. 

In 1863, the long looked-for advance of the Union army was made, 
the Arkansas River was crossed, Fort Smith, Dardanelle, and Little 
Rock were captured. Then the persecuted and hunted Union men 
rallied from the mountains, the valleys, and the bottoms to swell the 
advancing columns of the Union army. Mr. Boles, although suffer- 
ing from chills and fever three times a week, raised a company of 
one hundred men, and entered the 3d Arkansas Cavalry. He was 
elected captain of the company, and saw considerable service in 
picket, outpost, and scouting duty. He was with General Steele in 
his expedition to the southern part of the State at the time Gen- 
eral Banks met his reverse on Red River. He was captured on 
that expedition while sick with measles. He was so sick as to be 
unable to walk or ride on horseback, and was hauled in a wagon 
with his hands tied together. On arriving at Camden, he was suffer- 
ing greatly with thirst resulting from a raging fever. The guard 
obtained a bucket of water for him, but the rebel citizens of whom 
it was procured, finding that it was for Yankee prisoners, took the 
bucket and threw the water away. The sick prisoner almost perished 
with thirst before morning, but at daybreak the guard went to a 
little stream near by and dipped water in his hat with which to as- 
suage the feverish thirst. 



THOMAS BOLES. 3 

Mr. Boles was put in prison at Camden, where he lay sick, the 
officers not allowing a humane rebel surgeon of the post to take him 
to his hospital for treatment, as he proposed to do. A northern gen- 
tleman and his wife, living in Camden, learning that there were sick 
Union soldiers in prison, brought them teas and many delicacies. 
This was at first permitted by the guard, but when the commanding 
officers found it out they robbed the prisoner's friends of everytihng 
they had to subsist upon. Although Dr. Thompson, the humane rebel 
surgeon, was not permitted to take the sick prisoner to his hospital, 
he attended him closely in the prison, and by his kind treatment 
contributed to his partial restoration of health. 

About an hour before the Union army took Camden, Mr. Boles 
was paroled. Proceeding to Little Rock, he was there again pros- 
trated by sickness, and for some time his life was despaired of. After 
his recovery, he rejoined his command at Lewisburg, and served in 
that vicinity during the summer, and part of the fall, of 1864. His 
health again failing, upon the recommendation of the regimental sur- 
geon, he resigned, but was unable to leave the hospital for nearly a 
month after his resignation. 

During the absence of Mr. Boles in the army, his mother, a 
widow with several young children, was robbed by the rebels of 
nearly everything she had. They burned her beds and took the 
clothing of the children. Believing that she had some money, in 
order to compel her to disclose the place of its concealment, they 
set fire to the house; suspecting that the money was belted around 
her person, they tore off her dress, cut the belt and took the money. 
Although sick and almost blind, she then made her way to the 
Union post at Little Rock, over high mountains and across swollen 
streams, performing the painful journey of one hundred miles in 
two weeks. 

As soon as he could leave the hospital after his resignation, Mr. 
Boles took his mother and her family into Illinois, and remained 
therewith them until he regained his health. He returned to his 
old regiment in January, 1865, and, although lie did not enlist again, 



4 THOMAS BOLES. 

he performed the duty of a private soldier under command of men 
who had been his sergeants. 

In June, 1865, soon after the cessation of hostilities, he was elected 
Judge of the Circuit Court for the Fourth Judicial District of Ark 
ansas, and at once entered upon the duties of the office. The records 
and court-houses having nearly all been burned, the labor of reorgan- 
izing the courts was very arduous, but with the aid of able lawyers of 
both political parties, it was successfully accomplished. 

Politically he took a position as a radical Republican, and gave his 
hearty endorsement to the congressional plan of reconstruction . 
Upon the reorganization of Arkansas, in March, 1868, under the Re- 
construction acts, Mr. Boles was, without opposition, elected a Repre- 
sentative in the Fortieth Congress. In the fall of 1868, he was nom- 
inated for re-election, and made an active canvass in favor of Grant 
and Colfax. 

The canvass was conducted with some personal peril in the south- 
ern portion of the district, which was infested by the notorious out- 
law Cullen Baker and his band. The operations of these despera- 
does made it necessary for Governor Clayton to send militia to 
quell disorder. The election resulted in favor of Mr. Boles by a 
majority of 3,967 votes. 






GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 




'EOKGE S. BOUTWELL was born in Brookline, Massachu- 
setts, January 28th, 1818. He learned to read at his 

fejk mother's knee while she read the large family Bible. Be- 
ing a farmer's son, his assistance was required at home during the 
greater part of the year, so that his training in the schools was lim- 
ited to a few weeks of the winter. Whether in school or out, he 
prosecuted his studies most diligently, and when seventeen years of 
age he taught school in Shirley, Massachusetts. 

In March, 1835, he went to Groton and commenced business as 
clerk in a store. In the second story of the store there was kept an 
old but well-selected library. This was more fortunate for young 
Boutwell than the discovery of a mine of gold. In the absence of 
customers, and in the intervals of business, he read during the day. 
At nine o'clock, when the store was closed, he would repair to the 
library and read till overcome by drowsiness, when he would arouse 
himself by physical exercise, or plunging his head in a pail of water 
at hand for that purpose. He pursued the study of Latin and French, 
and made proficiency in other branches, such as gave him rank in 
scholastic attainments equal to that attained by college graduates. 
At the age of eighteen he entered his name in an attorney's office for 
the study of law, which he pursued with diligence in the intervals 
of business, for many years. 

At nineteen he made his first public appearance in a lecture before 
the Groton Lyceum. In 1840 he entered with youthful ardor into 
politics, advocating the election of Mr. Yan Buren. At the age of 
twenty-one he was elected a member of the School Committee of 
Groton, a large town of more than usual wealth and culture. In the 
same year he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the Leg- 

19 



GEORGE S BOUTWELL. 



islature, but failed to be elected. He was again nominated, however, 
and in 1842 was elected to the Legislature, in which he served for seven 
years. He soon 1 >ecame a leading member, surpassing all in thorough 
mastery of the subjects discussed, and in readiness and ability as a 
del >ater. He ably and successfully advocated the question of retrench- 
ment of expenses, enlargement of the school fund, and Harvard Col- 
lege reform. 

During his service in the Legislature Mr. Boutwell was also Rail- 
way Commissioner, Bank Commissioner, and three times a Demo- 
cratic candidate for Congress. He also delivered numerous lyceum 
lectures and political addresses. 

In 1851 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the 
office two terms. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1853, in which he was a recognized leader. Rufus Choate 
was his leading opponent. Early in the session, the subject of 
" Town Representation " being under consideration, Mr. Choate made 
one of his most characteristically eloquent speeches, which completely 
carried away the Convention. Mr. Boutwell rose to reply, surpris- 
ing many with his apparent temerity in attempting to meet the most 
brilliant orator of the Whigs. But all apprehension of a damaging 
comparison or a failure soon passed away. He enchained the atten- 
tion of the Convention, and maintained his cause with signal ability. 
II.- drafted and reported the Constitution, which was submitted to 
the people and adopted. 

The same year Mr. Boutwell became a member of the State Board 
of Education, in which he remained ten years. For five years he 
was Secretary of the Board, meanwhile preparing its Annual Re- 
ports, and publishing a "Manual of the School System and School 
Laws of Massachusetts," and a volume on "Educational Topics and 
Institutions." In 1856 his literary and scientific attainments were 
recognized in his election as a member of the American Academy oi 
Arts and Sciences. From 1851 to 1860 he was a member of the 
Board of Overseers of Harvard College. 

In 1853 Mr. Bontwell cast his last vote with the Democratic party, 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854, completely sunder- 



GEORGE S. BODTWELL. 3 

ing his eld political ties. He was a leader in the organization of the 
Republican party in Massachusetts. 

In 1S61, having been elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of 
Cambridge, he delivered the Commencement oration. With obvious 
propriety, political subjects are usually avoided on such occasions ; but 
such was the absorbing interest in national affairs, that the officers of 
the college and of the society requested him to discuss freely the 
state of the country. In the oration which followed, he showed that 
Slavery was the cause of the war, and demonstrated the justice and 
necessity of emancipation. It was so far in advance of the times as 
to receive severe censure, not only from Democrats, but from many 
Republicans. Published entire in many journals, and circulated 
throughout the country, it did much to hasten the great revolution in 
public sentiment which was essential to the suppression of the Rebel- 
lion. 

The first time that Mr. Boutwell appeared in a public capacity 
outside of Massachsetts, was as a member of the celebrated Peace 
Congress, held in 1861, which failed to arrest the rebellion of the 
South. He was first Commissioner of Internal Revenue, from July, 
1802 to March, 1863. During his incumbency of this office he or- 
ganized the vast Revenue System of the United States. 

Having been elected a Representative in Congress, he took his 
seat as a member of the House in March, 1863. He was appointed 
a member of the Judiciary Committee — an evidence of the high 
estimate in which his legal talent and attainments were held. 

In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses he was continued on 
this committee, and was a member of the Joint Committee on Re- 
construction. 

Making his first appearance in the national councils when the 
country was in the midst of a war of unexampled magnitude, he found 
a wide field opened before him for the exercise of Ins abilities. The 
Emancipation Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, and all the war meas- 
ures of the Administration, received his hearty support. When the 
enlistment of negroes was first resolved upon, he was among the 
foremost to encourage the policy, making several Bpeeches in Bnpport 



4 GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 

of what he regarded as a movement essential to a successful prose- 
cution of the war. After the Rebellion had been suppressed, he was 
me of the earliest advocates of negro suffrage. 

No one was more impatient with President Johnson's defection 
'rom the principles of the party by whom he had been elected ; no 
3ne was more firmly convinced that he was guilty of crimes and 
misdemeanors deserving impeachment. As a Manager of the Im- 
peachment Trial before the Senate, his sincerity, honesty, eloquence 
and erudition attracted the attention of the entire country. 

Elected for the fourth time as a Representative from Massachusetts, 
Mr. Boutwell had just taken his seat in the Forty-first Congress 
when he was called by President Grant to a seat in the Cabinet, as 
Secretary of the Treasury. This appointment was recognized by the 
eountry as eminently wise and proper. 

The new Secretary at once addressed himself to the work of regu- 
lating the complex and much disordered machinery of his Depart- 
ment. He began at the very opening of his administration of the 
Treasury to diminish the public debt. Notwithstanding the difficulties 
incident to entering upon a new financial policy, during his first three 
months in office he reduced the national indebtedness more than 
twenty millions of dollars. 

Mr. Boutwell is a man of great force of character, power of mind 
and strength of will. With indomitable perseverance and rare 
sagacity, he has risen to a position of commanding influence. He is 
an impressive speaker, with distinct articulation and earnest manner. 
He is a vigorous thinker, convincing by the force of logic, rather 
than captivating with the charms of rhetoric. Whether as State 
executive, national legislator or cabinet officer, he is the same honest, 
popular and efficient statesman. 






O. C. BOWES". 




C. BOWEN was born in Providence, Rhode Island, Janu- 
ary 5, 1832. Up to the age of twelve he enjoyed the 
benefit of schools in his native city, but about that period 
his parents removed to the State of Georgia, and settled in a com- 
munity where such advantages were not enjoyed. Soon after this 
he was left an orphan, and thrown among strangers with no resources 
but his own energies. Until he grew to manhood, he was chiefly 
occupied in agricultural pursuits. He subsequently studied law with 
a prominent lawyer of Georgia, and then removed to Charleston. 
South Carolina, where he was admitted to practice, and soon attained 
a fair position at the bar and a profitable business. At the threshold 
of his advancement the great civil war was precipitated upon the 
country, which suspended business and professional pursuits through- 
out the South. Regretting the war, and the circumstances which 
brought it on, he exerted all his influence against secession, but when 
it came he entered the " Confederate " army, and remained with it 
to the close. He accepted a commission as captain in the Coast 
Guards, whose duty it was to keep watch and ward on the shores of 
the Atlantic and the inlets where a hostile force was liable to ap- 
pear. He repeatedly refused promotions which would have led him 
into more active service against the Union. 

Immediately after the close of the war, Mr. Bowen renewed the 
practice of his profession in Charleston, and was soon again immersed 
in a successful business. In the course of his practice he did much 
gratuitous professional service for the poor, which gave him wide 
and well-deserved popularity 

1 



2 C. C. BOWEN. 

In the re-organization of political parties in the South in 1SG7, Mr. 
Bowen took an active part. He embraced the principles of Repub- 
licanism, and became a leader of that party in South Carolina. He 
devoted himself with zeal and efficiency to the organization of the 
Republican party in the State, and was elected a member of the first 
Republican Convention, which was held in Charleston, in May, 1867, 
for the purpose of framing and adopting a platform of principles and 
policy for the party in South Carolina. Mr. Bowen took a leading part 
in this Convention, and was selected by it as chairman of the First 
State Central Committee. In that capacity he directed the move- 
ments of the party in the State, and did much to promote its success. 

In November, 1S67, he was elected a member of the State Consti- 
tutional Convention. His abilities were recognized by his appoint- 
ment as chairman of the most important Committee of the Convention 
— that on the Judiciary, and to his hand may be ascribed the Fourth, 
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Articles of the Constitution, framed by 
that Convention. 

In April, 186S, the people of his district appreciating Mr. Bowen's 
valuable services to the party and the State, elected him as a Repre- 
sentative in the Fortieth Congress. In November, 1S68, he was 
re-elected by twenty thousand majority. 

His course in Congress has been marked by an untiring devotion 
to the interests of his district and State. His speeches have been 
characterized by careful research and practical ability. His speech 
upon the Fifteenth Amendment received marked attention, and 
elicited much favorable comment from the press. His speech in 
favor of an appropriation for the Sisters of Mercy of Charleston 
received high commendation. He served in the Fortieth Congress, 
on the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, and in the Forty-first Con- 
gress on the same committee, together with that on Invalid Pensions. 






NATHANIEL BOYDE^. 




? ATHANIEL BOYDEN was born in Conway, Massachusetts, 
August 16, 1796. His father, John Boyden, Jr., was a sol- 
dier of the Revolution, and was on duty at West Point 
at the time of the attempted treason of Arnold. He entered Wil- 
liams' College, in September, 1817, and graduated at Union College, 
Schenectady, in July, 1821. In the following year he removed to 
North Carolina, where he studied law, and was admitted to the bar 
in December, 1823. He then devoted himself assiduously to his pro- 
fession, practising in the Supreme Court of North Carolina regularly 
for more than thirty years. He was repeatedly a member of the 
North Carolina State Legislature in both the House and Senate. In 
1817 he was a Representative from North Carolina to the Thirtieth 
Congress in which he served on the Committee on Expenditures in 
the Navy Department. He declined a re-election for the purpose of 
devoting his whole time to his profession. After the close of the 
rebellion he aided in the reconstruction of his State, and as a Repub- 
lican was elected a Representative to the Fortieth Congress. He 
was admitted to his seat July 13, 1868, taking the test oath in a 
modified form, he having served in the Legislature of North Carolina 
under the Confederate Government, and his disabilities thus incurred 
having been removed by act of Congress. He was appointed on the 
Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States, and 
took a prominent part in legislation during the brief period of his 
service in the Fortieth Congress. He participated in the discussions 
on the Funding bill, the Tax bill, and the bill to strengthen the public 
credit. When the subject of the tax on whiskey was under discussion, 
February 9, 1869, he Bpoke earnestly against the legislation which 
would tend to break up the small distilleries, which were numerous 
in his district. 






BEXJAMm M. BOYER 




iENJAMIN. M. BOYER was born in Montgomery County, 
Pennsylvania, January 22, 1823. He was for some time a 
student of Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania ; but 
afterwards graduated at the University of Pennsylvania. He read 
law at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, under the instruction of the late Judge 
Reed, and was admitted to the bar at that place. He began the 
practice of law, however, in his native county, for which he was Dis- 
trict-Attorney from 184:8 to 1850. Here he successfully pursued his 
profession, having several times declined judicial stations. 

In politics, Mr. Boyer was a Whig until the dissolution of the 
Whig party, when he associated himself with the Democracy. In 
L856, he voted for James Buchanan for President, against John C. 
Fremont, the Republican candidate, and since that date has always 
acted with the Democratic party. 

In 1860, Mr. Boyer was an active supporter of Judge Douglas for 
the Presidency, and aided in establishing a campaign newspaper called 
the National Democrat, which was the organ of the Douglas Demo©- 
racy of his comity during the Presidential canvass of that year, and of 
which lie was, until after the election, the principal editor. 

Mr. Boyer, previously to the breaking out of the Southern rebel- 
lion, advocated conciliatory measures. But after the war had actually 
begun, he was an active and earnest advocate of the suppression ot 
the rebellion by force of arms. In addresses to the people, of all parties, 
at various public meetings, as well as in communications through the 
press, he urged the energetic support of the Government, and the 
prompt enlistment of men. 



BENJAMIN M. BOYER. 2 

Twice during the war, when Pennsylvania was invaded by the 
rebels, he raised a company of volunteers for the emergency, and, as 
their captain, served with them in the field, by .which service he con- 
tracted an illness which nearly terminated his life. 

In 1861, Mr. Boyer was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and 
was re-elected in 1866. He has maintained with zeal and ability the 
usual Democratic view of the prominent questions which have come 
before that body. 

In the Fortieth Congress, March 13, 1867, a joint resolution being 
under discussion in the House " for the relief of the destitute in the 
Southern and Southwestern States," Mr. Boyer said, " I trust that 
this joint resolution will be adopted ; that it will be passed promptly, 
and with unanimity. I am not deterred from supporting it by the 
reasons given by the gentleman from Indiana, based upon the fact 
that those who are to be recipients of this bounty are the families of 
rebels, nor by the arguments of the two gentlemen from New York, 
that this fund is to be distributed through the Freedmen's Bureau. 
* * The time I trust will come at some future day when the 
people of this country, of all sections, shall again dwell together in 
peace and harmony. The time I hope will come, if not in this gone- 
ration, at least in the next, when the foundations of our Government 
will again rest, as of old, in the affections and confidence of the 
whole people. That is the wisest legislation which hastens the 
consummation of this end so devoutly to be wished. That is the 
noblest as well as the wisest legislation which exhibits this great 
Government as a beneficent agent, clothed with mercy and magna- 
nimity as well as with resistless power, able to enforce the authority 
of its laws against all opposers, but willing also to forgive, to pro- 
tect, and to save." 

In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. Boyer was 
a member of the committee on the New Orleans riots, and made the 
minority report on thatsubject. In the Fortieth Congress he was more 
prominent as a defender of the President than any other member of the 
minority. His speeches in defense of the President were extensively 



3 BENJAMIN M. BOYER. 

circulated by his party. The first was delivered December 17, 1867, 
and was published under the title of "The President and Congress 
—The Impeachers Impeached." " What public man," he asked on 
this occasion, "exercising the office of President of the United States 
at so critical a period, could have undergone a scrutiny like that to 
which Andrew Johnson has been subjected, and emerged from the or- 
deal more scatheless than he ? During more than eight months a se- 
cret inquisition assiduously labored to convict him of something, no 
matter what, so it would injure him in the estimation of mankind. 
His persecutors were able men, armed with the power of the nation, 
and suspected by no man of any disposition to spare the accused. 
The secret history of his public acts was explored, his most private 
relations invaded, his personal correspondence ransacked, the revela- 
tion of his most confidential conversations in his most unguarded mo- 
ments required of his friends, his domestic life investigated, his pecu- 
niary transactions overhauled, and even his private bank accounts ex- 
amined. To get evidence against him the felon's cell was visited by 
honorable members of Congress, and testimony solicited at the hands 
of convicted perjurers. Spies and detectives were employed, traps 
set, m< >ney expended — but all in vain. Andrew Johnson, as man and 
President, stands higher this day in the estimation of his countrymen 
than when this investigation began. I would rather take his chance 
fur honorable and enduring fame hereafter than that of the proudest 
and Loftiesl among all his enemies, persecutors, and slanderers. 

" He was not the President of my choice. I did not vote for him. 
But I recognize in him a fearless defender of the Constitution, and 
as such I honor and defend him. As such, too, he will be remem- 
bered and honored by his countrymen when the political strife of 
these days shall be over, and when his administration of public 
affairs >hall have passed into history." 

Mr. Boyer made a speech in defense of the President atrthe ban- 
quet of the 8th of January, at the Metropolitan Hotel in Wa>hington, 
in response to one of the regular toasts — "The President of the 
United States;' On the 92d of February, Mr. Boyer made a legal 



BENJAMIN M. BOYER. 4 

argument defending the President against the charges preferred in 
the Articles of Impeachment. Two of his later speeches in the 
House of Eepresentatives were extensively circulated by his party as 
campaign documents, viz., that on " The Admission of Alabama," 
delivered March 17, 1868, and that of June 30, 1868, on " The Pub- 
lic Expenditures." From the first we make the following extracts : 

" It is only by gradual descent through many downward steps that 
so low a depth of legislative depravity could possibly be reached. 
That the government of a negro minority should, without the consent 
and against the protest of the people, be inflicted by an American 
Congress upon a State in the American Union, is a spectacle too mon- 
strous to be endured. * * * Is this the Union which this Repub- 
lican Congress promised to restore when they summoned the nation 
to arms for the suppression of the rebellion ? Did Congress not then 
proclaim, and was it not the rallying cry of the Northern hosts, and 
the hope of all patriots, that the Union should be restored with all 
the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired ? If 
such conditions of inferiority as are prescribed by the pending bill can 
be imposed by Congress upon a State in one particular, where is the 
limit to the absolute power of Congress to impose every other ? JBut 
why should we be surprised ? Is not one-third of the nation in chains 
and has not this same Congress abolished the government of the people 
in ten States ? * * * * 

" For this nation there is but one way of salvation open. Abstract 
principles of law, justice, and morality are of little avail ; and against 
the inexorable tyranny of party discipline it has been our sad experi- 
ence to see the judgments and consciences of the more moderate men 
of the dominant party oppose but a feeble resistance. It is the peo- 
ple only who can arrest the usurpations which threaten to overwhelm 
and subvert the institutions of our country. And when we of the 
minority, who are so powerless in this Hall, are permitted to speak, 
we have no other resort than to appeal as best we can to that mighty 
audience outside the walls of this Capitol, who can, if they will, still 
save the Republic." 



HEJSTRY P. H. BROMWELL. 




JENRY P. H. BROMWELL was born in Baltimore, Mary- 
land, August 26, 1823. He removed in childhood to Ohio, 
and after remaining in that State seven years, in 1836 he 
emigrated with his parents to Illinois. After some time spent in 
English and classical studies, he prepared himself for the profession of 
law, and coming to the bar in 1853, practised in different parts of 
the State. From 1852 to 1854 he edited and published the " Age 
of Steam and Fire " at Vandalia. In 1853 he was elected judge of 
Fayette County, and held the office four years. In 1860 he was a 
Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket. In 1864 he was 
elected a Representative from Illinois to the Thirty-ninth Congress, 
during which he served on the Committees on Patents, Expenses in 
the State Department and the Civil Service. He was re-elected to 
the Fortieth Congress, and served on the Committee on Public 
Expenditures. He earnestly favored the impeachment of the Presi- 
dent, and as early as July 11, 1867, used the following language in 
a speech to the House : " The people are weary with the delay in 
hunting up specialties and trifles when the grand glaring fact stares 
them in the face that the Chief Magistrate has met both the last and 
the present Congress with the assumption of complete legislative 
power, exercising every attribute of a despot in this country, while 
Congress stood still and submitted." He favored expansion of the 
currency, which he advocated in a speech delivered, as he asserted, in 
behalf of a " class very seldom represented on this floor by one of 
their own number, the 'old settlers,' whose hands have shared the 
toils of frontier life from youth, who know how to use the ax, the 
maul, the log-chain and the frow." 




^/_ />» ,. 6 U-s2^V2r-i^>-~s^£- 



JOHST M. BEOOMALL. 




H^HE ancestors of the subject of this sketch were Quakers, 
who emigrated from England among the early settlers of 
Pennsylvania. John M. Broomall was born in Upper 
Chichester, Delaware County, Pa., January 19, 1816. He received 
a classical and mathematical education in the select schools of the 
Society of Friends. 

Mr. Broomall studied law, and practiced in his native county with 
success for twenty years. In politics he was in early life a Whig, 
and cast his first presidential vote, in 1840, for General Harrison. 

Embracing the anti-slavery principles of the Society in which he 
was born, he opposed at the polls, in 1838, the adoption of the new 
constitution of Pennsylvania, which disfranchised the blacks. His 
subsequent votes, whether as a citizen or a Representative, have all 
been consistent with the one given on that occasion. 

In 1851 and 1852, he served as a Representative in the Legisla- 
ture of Pennsylvania, and was a member of the State Revenue 
Board in 1854. Two years later he attached himself to the Republi- 
can party. In 1860, he was a delegate to the Convention which 
nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was chosen a Presidential Elector 
in the election which followed. 

In 1862, he was elected a Representative in Coigress from the 
Seventh Pennsylvania District. In 1864, and in 1866, lie was re- 
elected. In 1868, he declined to be again a candidate, on account 
of the state of his health, and the condition of his private affairs. 

He served on the Committees of Accounts and Public Expendi- 
tures, of the first of which he was Chairman during the Fortieth 



2 JOHN M. BROOMALL. 

Congress. During his entire Congressional service, Mr. Broomall 
has been counted among the extreme Radicals. Upon financial 
questions he always opposed the expansion of the currency, and ad- 
vocated contraction as a means to the resumption of specie payments. 

During Mr. Broomall's service in Congress he made a number of 
able and important speeches. On the 18th of March, 18G8, he ad- 
dressed the House on " The power and duty of the United States to 
guarantee to every State a republican form of government." In the 
course of this speech, he remarked : 

" If the majority may lawfully disfranchise the minority on ac- 
count of race or lineage, then may the citizens of South Carolina of 
African descent limit the elective franchise to themselves, to the 
exclusion of their white fellow-citizens. If in the form of govern- 
ment now being constituted there, such a limitation should be placed, 
who in this Hall or in the country would maintain that the Govern- 
ment is republican ? Not a single vote could be obtained in either 
House of Congress for the admission of a State with such a constitu- 
tion. Now, if it is not republican in South Carolina, where black 
men are in the majority, to limit the suffrage to black men, with 
what consistency shall we maintain that it is republican in Ohio, 
where white men are in the majority, to limit the suffrage to white 
men ? Let us beware how we advocate the doctrine that the minority 
maybe lawfully disfranchised on account of lineage, lest that doctrine 
be turned against ourselves, and lest for very shame we be obliged 
to submit." 



1 






^ 





C-^~— V 








JAMES BEOOKS. 




■ AMES BROOKS was born in Portland, Maine, Novem- 
ber 10, 1810. His father was captain and principal owner 
of a brig in the merchant sendee. His sea-faring life kept 
him almost constantly from home, hence his son was left to the 
sole care of a mother, who from her energy and excellence of character 
was well fitted- for the responsible duty. While James was yet a 
child, the vessel which his father commanded was lost at sea with all 
on board. By this calamity Mrs. Brooks was made a widow and left 
penniless, for all the property of her husband was invested in the 
vessel. 

. The widow, now left as the sole support of herself and three orphan 
children, exerted herself with great energy to maintain her family. 

James was sent to the public school, where he studied eagerly, and 
exhibited remarkable thirst for knowledge. 

"When eleven years old, a situation was obtained for him in a store 
at Lewiston, then a frontier village on the Androscoggin. By con- 
tract with his employer he was to remain in his service until he was 
twenty-one, when he should receive a hogshead of New England 
rum. 

The store in which young Brooks was employed was a favorite 
resort of the village politicians of both parties, who came in the 
evening to hear the young clerk read the news. He gave them 
politics quite impartially, reading Whig doctrines from the Portland 
Advertiser, and throwing in a fair proportion of Democracy from the 
Argus. The town library was kept in the store in which young 
Brooks was employed, and this afforded him a free and wide range 
of attractive reading. 

r 



2 JAMES BROOKS. 

The employer of Brooks took a great interest in his young clerk. 
He gave him opportunities of trading a little on his own account, 
and encouraged him to save his money. Having discovered that 
James was desirous of obtaining an education, he kindly proposed 
to release him from all obligations of further service, and give 
him such assistance as he needed.. Young Brooks gratefully ac- 
cepted the offer, and in a few days made arrangements to enter an 
academy at Monmouth, Maine. He had saved money enough to pay 
the moderate price of one dollar per week for board. Blessed with 
good health, and devoted to hard study, he soon accomplished his 
purpose of fitting himself for teaching school. He then returned to 
Lewiston, and taught a school for the winter at a salary of ten dollars 
per month and his board. The following spring he found himself 
rich enough to enter Waterville College. Since even a few shillings 
were important to him then, in going to Waterville he carried his 
own trunk, which was neither large nor heavy. 

After pursuing his college studies for a year, he found it necessary 
to teach school in order to obtain money with which to continue Iris 
course. While teaching school, by hard study, he kept up his college 
studies ; and on his return, after a rigid examination, he was admitted 
to an advanced class. 

After two years more of study, young Brooks graduated, and left 
college a< lie had come, three years before, carrying his trunk. He 
returned to his mother's house in Portland with just ninety cents in 
Lis pocket. Without giving himself so much as a day of respite or 
recreation, he at once began to search for employment. Learning 
that a Latin school, for some time established in Portland, was about 
to change its teacher, Brooks applied for the situation, and, unknown, 
without influential friends, obtained it as the result of a rigid examin- 
ation. From this time Brooks made a home with his mother and 
her two younger children, protecting and caring for them with filial 
and almost paternal devotion. 

Scarcely had Mr. Brooks become established in his school when he 
commenced the study of law with John Neal, a celebrated lawyer of 

1q<0 



JAMES BROOKS 3 

Portland, and well known as an author. This gentleman manifested 
great interest in his student, who no doubt obtained quite as much 
literary knowledge from the author as legal instruction from the 
lawyer. 

Mr. Brooks soon after began to write anonymous letters for the 
Portland Advertiser, a daily Whig paper published by John Ed- 
wards. These articles were so popular that Mr. Edwards found out 
their author, and made him an offer of $500 per annum to write 
constantly for his journal. This work Mr. Brooks continued for a 
whole year, keeping school and studying law at the same time. 

At length it could no longer be concealed that he was in part 
editor of a leading partisan newspaper, and had taken sides against 
General Jackson. This rendered it impossible for him to perform 
the duties of a teacher to his own satisfaction, and from that time he 
devoted himself wholly to the Advertiser, entering heart and soul 
into political life. 

At this time, though only twenty years old, Mr. Brooks began to 
attract attention as a political speaker, and soon became one of the 
most popular orators known to either party. 

The year he was twenty-one, Mr. Brooks was elected to the Legis- 
lature of Maine. In addition to his legislative duties he wrote for 
the Portland Advertiser. 

The next year he went to Washington, and commenced a series of 
letters from the national capital, thus inaugurating "Washington 
Correspondence," which has become a feature in the American press. 
These letters, being a novelty and full of spirited description, were 
extensively copied both in this country and in Europe. 

When Congress adjourned, Mr. Brooks traveled through the South, 

and wrote a series of interesting letters descriptive of Southern life. 

This was in the days of South Carolina's nullification, against which 

these letters were trenchant and severe. The writer dealt with slavery 

also, taking strong grounds against the " institution." This fact was 

brought up and made a subject of sharp remark by Mr. Price, of 

Iowa, in the Thirty-eighth Congress. Mr. Brooks replied that ho 

20 



4 JAMES BROOKS. 

eaw no reason to change his opinions, though so many years had 
elapsed since the letters were written. 

The success of Mr. Brooks's letters from Washington and the 
South induced him to form the novel plan of traveling over Europe 
on foot, and sending to the Advertiser descriptions of what he saw. 
Mr. Brooks sailed from New York for England in one of the fine 
packet ships of the time. With a knapsack on his back, and letters 
of introduction from the first men of America in his pocket, he trav- 
eled over England and made himself familiar with its people. One 
(lav he dined with some nobleman, and the next walked thirty miles 
and slept in the thatched cottage of a peasant. He wandered over 
the hills of Scotland, and among the green fields of Ireland, seeing 
everything, and describing with vivacity all he saw. He became 
acquainted with most of the great statesmen and authors of England. 
His description of his visit to the poet Wordsworth so interested the 
public that a splendid copy of his poems was forwarded to Mr. Brooks 
from the publishers, after his return home, as an acknowledgement 
of the fidelity and truthfulness of the letters. 

From England Mr. Brooks went to France. He crossed the Alps 
mi foot, and made himself familiar with Switzerland, Italy, and por- 
ti. >ns of Germany. The letters written during these travels at I racted 
great attention to the paper for which they were written. They 
were extensively copied in this country, and were translated and 

re-copied abroad. 

When Mr. Brooks returned to America, he remained some weeks 
in Xew York, and there offers were made him to establish a daily 
paper to be called the New \York Express. Parties there proposed 
to furnish the capital for the paper, which was to offset the labor and 
talent which Brooks should supply as editor. 

The people of Portland, being reluctant to part with a young man 
of so much promise, offered to nominate him for Congress if he would 
return to them. He accordingly returned to Portland, and became 
a candidate against F. O. J. Smith, a very popular man on the 
Democratic side, and a third candidate, whose name was Dunn. 



JAMES BKOOKS. 5 

The district had for years been a Democratic stronghold, but it was 
only on a third trial, Dunn having been persuaded to withdraw, that 
Smith was elected by a bare majority. 

Mr. Brooks soon after returned to his incomplete enterprise in Xew 
York, and that year established the New York Express, a daily 
journal, of which he is principal owner at the present time. Disap- 
pointment met him at the outset, Persons who had promised to 
supply the funds for the new enterprise failed to meet their engage- 
ments, and it was by the most intense labor and personal privation 
that he struggled under the load of debt laid on him from the first. 
But he had health and strength, and that indomitable energy which 
nothing daunts or dismays. He wrote leaders, acted as reporter, 
watched night after night for the arrival of ship news, and kept his 
journal up with an energy which the public soon began to recog- 
nize. 

After a year or two the New York Daily Advertiser, published by 
William B. Townsend, was connected with the Express. Gradually 
but surely the journal advanced in popularity under the editorial 
management of Mr. Brooks, who had reached great political influ- 
ence, and was one of the most popular speakers in the Whig party. 

During the memorable political campaign of 1840, Mr. Brooks 
went to Indiana and stumped that State for Harrison. He became 
a great favorite and devoted friend of Harrison, and was one of the 
few friends admitted to his room during his fatal illness. 

In the summer of 1841 Mr. Brooks was married to Mrs. Mary 
Randolph, a widow lady of Eichmond, Virginia. Such was his dis- 
like of slavery that he insisted that the emancipation of three or four 
household slaves belonging to her should precede the marriage cere- 
mony. 

In 1847 Mr. Brooks wa's elected to the State Legislature, and two 
years later was elected a Representative in Congress from i\ew 
York. He served through the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Con- 
gresses, in which he distinguished himself by his eloquence of speech 
and effectiveness in debate. He was the associate and friend of 

% 17 



6 JAMES BROOKS. 

Webster, Clay, and other leading spirits in Congress at that time, 
and kept pace with them in the stirring legislative movements of 
that period. Clay's efforts in the great compromise measures of the 
time met with his efficient support in the Honse, where all the varied 
knowledge which he had acquired in his travels and in his editorial 
life became available in his career of statesmanship. 

About this time Mr. Brooks purchased Mr. Townsend's interest in 
the Express, and took his younger brother into partnership in the 
establishment. 

Soon after the close of the Thirty-second Congress Mr. Brooks 
made another tour on the continent, and subsequently went a third 
time across the ocean, extending his travels to Egypt and the Holy 
Land. 

During these travels Mr. Brooks availed himself of the opportun- 
ities presented in each country of studying its language on the spot. 
He thus acquired the German, Spanish, and Italian, and perfected 
his knowledge of the French. 

Thus alternating his editorial duties with extensive travels, Mr. 
Brooks passed several years until the excitements and issues of the 
civil war induced him to enter political life again. In the canvass for 
the election of a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress, Mr. Brooks 
started as an independent candidate, but in the end the Democratic 
nominee retired, and Mr. Brooks was elected by a large majority. 
He took his seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress; but, after 
serving nearly through the long session, his seat was successfully con- 
tested by William E. Dodge. Surrendering his seat some time in 
April, Mr. Brooks was unanimously nominated for the Fortieth 
Congress, and was elected by a majority of six thousand votes. 

During the autumn of 1867 Mr. Brooks was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention. 

In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Brooks is a member of the Eecon- 
truction Committee and of the Committee of Ways and Means. 
Able in argument, eloquent in speech, and plausible in address, he 
is a leading spirit on the side of the minority. 



RALPH P. BUOKLAOTX 




HE, recent civil war, the war of 1812, and that of the 
American Revolution, are all associated with the history of 
the subject of this sketch and his immediate ancestors. His 
grandfather was a captain of artillery in the Revolutionary War, from 
East Hartford, Connecticut. He was taken prisoner by the British, 
and died in the Jersey prison-ship, near New York. His father went 
from Massachusetts to Portage County, Ohio, as a surveyor, in 
1811. He enlisted as a volunteer in Hull's army, was surrendered 
at Detroit, and died at Ravenna, Ohio, a few months after his return 
home, from disease contracted in the service. 

Ralph Pomeroy Buckland was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, 
January 20, 1812. His father, a short time before his death, had 
conveyed his family to the West, and settled them in the wilderness 
of Ohio. His premature death left them in dependent circumstances. 
Ralph was dependent upon the exertions of his mother and the 
kindness of friends for support until he was old enough to earn a 
living by his own labor. He had the advantage of attending the 
common schools of the country during the winter, and attended the 
academy at Talmadge during the summer of 1830. In the following 
autumn he went down the Mississippi River, stopping a few months 
at Natchez, where he found employment as a clerk. In the spring 
of 1831 he was sent by his employers to New Orleans in charge of 
two flat-boats loaded with flour. He remained at New Orleans as 
clerk of the cotton house of Harris, Wright & Co. until the summer 
of 183-1, when he returned to Ohio, spent a year at Kenyon College, 
studied law with Gregory Powers at Middlebury, and Whitlessey & 



2 RALPH P. BUCKLAND. 

Newton at Canfield, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 
1837. During the time he was at New Orleans his leisure moments 
were occupied in prosecuting his studies and in learning the French 
language. In the summer of 1837 he commenced the practice of his 
profession at Fremont, Ohio, where he now resides. 

In January, 1838, he was married to Miss Charlotte Boughton, of 
Canfield, Ohio. In 1855 he was elected to the State Senate, and re- 
elected in 1857, serving four years. 

In October, 1861, he began to organize the Seventy-second Regi- 
ment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which in three months was fully 
equipped and ready for the field. Soon after entering upon active 
service, Colonel Buckland was assigned to the command of the Fourth 
Brigade of Sherman's Division. 

On the 7th of March, 1S62, he moved up the Tennessee River, and 
on the 17th encamped at Pittsburg Landing — the left of his brigade 
resting at Shiloh Church. On the 3d of April he made a recon- 
noissance with his brigade four miles to the front, and on the 4th he 
participated in a skirmish with some of the enemy's advanced forces. 
On the morning of the 6th, Colonel Buckland's brigade was in line 
full one hour before the hard fighting began. He advanced his lines 
about two hundred yards on the left and about four hundred yards 
on the right, and met the enemy. The fighting was desperate for 
two hours. During this time the colonel was riding along the line 
encouraging his men by word and example, the rebels being repeat- 
edly driven back. Colonel Buckland's brigade maintained its 
ground until ordered back by General Sherman. He was heavily 
engaged during the second day, and was continually in the saddle. 

On one occasion, 1 icing ordered to advance his brigade under a very 
severe fire of artillery and musketry from the enemy, one of his color- 
bearers hesitated t<> advance. Colonel Buckland rode to the front, 
seized the colors, and planted them at the desired point. His brigade 
instantly advanced, with cheers. 

General Lew. Wallace remarked on Tuesday morning, while riding 
over the ground which the brigade had occupied, that, "judging from 



RALPH P. BUCKLAND. 3 

the dead bodies, here seems to have been the best and the hardest 

fighting." 

Colonel Buckland continued in command of the brigade during 
the advance on Corinth until about the middle of May, when he was 
succeeded by General J. W. Denver. At Memphis, Tennessee, he 
was assigned to the command of a brigade in General Lauman's divi- 
sion, and formed part of the Tallahatchie Expedition. 

As soon as the news reached General Grant that General Yan 
Dorn had taken Holly Springs, General Buckland was sent with his 
brigade to retake the place. This having been accomplished, he was 
sent to chive Forrest from his camp at Dresden, West Tennessee. 

On the 20th of March he joined General Sherman's corps in front 
of Vicksburg, and participated in the series of battles which occurred 
in the movement to the rear of that place. During the siege he was 
always active and vigilant, and at times much exposed. On the 22d 
of May he led his brigade down the grave-yard road, marching on 
foot to support the assault on the enemy's works, exposed to a mur- 
derous fire of artillery and musketry. Although General Buckland 
was constantly exposed until all his regiments were in position, and 
his men were shot clown around him in great numbers, he escaped 

unhurt. 

General Buckland remained with his command in the rear of 
Yicksburg after the surrender until the 1st of October, when his right 
arm was broken by the falling of his horse. By this injury he was 
incapacitated for active field service, but continued to command his 
brigade, except for a short time, until on the 26th of January, 1864, 
he was assigned to the command of the District of Memphis, where 
his administrative abilities were exemplified and his integrity of 
character was clearly manifested. 

At the time of the Forrest raid into the city, General C. C. Wash- 
burne commanded that department, with his headquarters at Memphis. 
General Buckland had command of the troops in the city. Most of 
the troops had been sent in pursuit of Forrest under command of 
General A. J. Smith. Forrest eluded Smith near Oxford, Mississippi, 

. 



4 RALPH P. BUCKLAND. 

made a rapid march to Memphis, captured the cavalry patrol, rushed 
over the infantry pickets, and was in Memphis before daylight, took 
possession of General Washburne's headquarters, capturing his staff 
officers, clerks, and guards — the General escaping to the fort below 
the city. When General Buckland was awakened by the sentinel at 
the door, the rebels were in possession of a considerable part of the 
city, and on all sides of General Buckland's headquarters. General 
Buckland rallied about one hundred and fifty men quartered near 
him, caused a small alarm-gun to be rapidly fired, and instantly 
attacked the rebels at General Washburne's headquarters, although 
they out-numbered him four to one. General Buckland very soon 
concentrated all his forces, which were stationed in different parts of 
the city, and followed up his attack so rapidly and with such spirit 
that in less than an hour he had driven every rebel out of the city, 
and attacked General Forrest's main force just outside ; and after a 
shai-}") fight of about one horn' General Forrest was in full retreat, 
having entirely failed in the object of his attack on Memphis. But 
for General Buckland, Forrest would have held the city and captured 
immense stores of Government property. 

General Buckland remained in command of the post at Memphis 
until December 24, 1864, when he resigned his commission. 

Without having sought or expected political favor, he had been 
nominated for Representative in the Thirty-ninth Congress while still 
serving i n the army. Without having gone home to further his in- 
terests, he had been elected by the people of the Ninth District of 
Ohio. In obedience to their wishes he left the military for the civil 
service of the country. During the Thirty-ninth Congnss he served 
on the Committee on Banking and Currency and on the Militia, In 
1866 he was re-elected to Congress, in which he is now giving his 
country and constituents the same conscientious faithful service which 
marked his military career. 



3-ry 





7, 




■<y/£C£'i 



CHARLES W. BUCKLEY. 




IIIARLES W. BUCKLEY was born in Unadilla, Otsego 
County, New York, February 18, 1835. In 1846, with his 
father's family he removed to Freeport, Illinois. He was 
educated at Beloit College, graduating with the highest honors of his 
class. He engaged for a time in teaching, and subsequently gradu- 
ated at the Union Theological Seminary, of New York. He was 
ordained by the Fourth Presbytery of New York, and was appointed 
chaplain in the Union army, November, 1863, serving in that capacity 
until the close of the war. After the surrender he served two years 
as superintendent of education for the Bureau of Refugees and Freed- 
men for the State of Alabama. He was an early and strong advo- 
cate of colored suffrage and general education. He was elected by 
the Republicans of Montgomery County a member of the State Con- 
vention, which assembled November 5, 1867, under the Reconstruc- 
tion Acts, to frame a constitution for Alabama. In this convention 
he served as chairman of the Committee on Public Institutions, and 
as a member of the Committee on Education. His efforts were 
especially directed to the work of framing into the constitution of the 
State that outline of a free public school system which, in its subse- 
quent development, has brought the opportunities of a good common 
school education within the reach of every child of the State, without 
distinction of race, color, or previous condition. 

In February, 1868, he was elected a Representative to the Fortieth 
Congress from the Second District of Alabama, and took his seat 
upon the re-admission of Alabama to the Union, July 21, 1868. He 
was unanimously renominated by the Republican party of his district 
as Representative to the Forty-first Congress, and was elected by 
4,147 majority. 

2ot 



ALBERT G. BURR. 



jL LBERT G. BURR is a native of Illinois, and was bora in 
the year 1829. Receiving a good education he entered 
^|^J on the study of law, and practiced his profession. In 
1S61 he was elected a member of the Illinois Legislature. He was 
a member in the following year of the State Constitutional Conven- 
tion, and was the author of the* address to the people accompanying 
the new Constitution. He was re-elected to the State Legislature in 
18G3, and in 1866 was elected to the Fortieth Congress, and was 
placed on the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions and of the War 
of 1812, and also on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. 

In his speeches on the supplementary Reconstruction bill, Mr. 
Burr strongly opposed the Reconstruction measures as overthrowing 
the State governments, as establishing a military despotism in the 
South, as a usurpation of power on the part of Congress, and utterly 
unconstitutional. To the dominant party he addressed himself, " Go 
on in your wild fanaticism ; proselyte with the bayonet ; persuade 
through the potent voice of ' commanders ; ' give efficiency to party 
decrees in general orders ; tear down with impious hands the fabric 
of your fathers, and rear in its stead the ungainly structure which 
will result from your labors of Reconstruction." 

Among other speeches of Mr. Burr in this Congress was that on 
strengthening the public credit, also a speech on the finances of the 
country. As might be expected, Mr. Burr was a strong opposer of 
the measures relating to the impeachment of President Johnson, and 
his speech on the subject ably presented the general views of the 
opposition in regard to this grave question. Mr. Burr was an active 
and able member on the Democratic side of the House of Represen- 
tative, and his return by his constituents to the Forty-first Congress 
evinces the estimation which they placed upon his energy, vigilance, 
and faithfulness. 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER 



fEXJAMIN F. BUTLER was born in Deerfield, New Hamp- 
shire, November 5, 1818. Five months afterwards, his 
father, a sea-captain, died at one of the West India Islands. 
Thus he grew up a fatherless boy, and in early childhood was slender 
and sickly. Yet he early evinced a fondness for reading, and 
eagerly availed himself of whatever books came within his reach. His 
memory from childhood was extraordinary, and he was fond of pleas- 
ing his mother by committing and reciting to her long passages— 
once, indeed, the entire Gospel of Matthew. This extraordinary 
gift of memory he is said to retain in full force to the present day. 

At ten years of age his mother removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, 
that she might find better privileges for schooling her children. 
Benjamin improved well his opportunity ; graduating duly into the 
High School, and thence into Exeter Academy, where he completed 
his preparation for college. After some deliberation it was decided 
to send him to Waterville College, Maine. He was at this time 
sixteen years of age, and is represented as being a youth of small 
stature, infirm health, and fair complexion, while as to his mental 
qualities he was "of keen view — fiery, inquisitive, fearless," with 
ardent curiosity to know, and a perfect memory to retain. In col- 
lege he excelled in those departments of the course in which he took 
a more especial interest, as for example the several branches of natural 
science, giving only ordinary attention to the rest. Meantime he 
read extensively, devouring books by the multitude. 

At graduating he was but a weak, attenuated young man, weigh- 
ing 6hort of a hundred pounds. At the same time he was entirely 
dependent upon himself, and obliged to carve out his own fortune. 
To improve his health he accompanied an uncle on a fishing excur- 



2 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

sion to the coasts of Labrador, when, after a few weeks, he returned 
strong and well. 

He now commenced vigorously his life-work. Entering a law 
office at Lowell he pursued the study of the law with all his might, 
teaching school a portion of the time to aid in defraying his expenses ; 
and such was his diligence at this period that he was accustomed to 
work eighteen out of the twenty-four hours. Meanwhile he indulged 
in no recreation save military exercises, for which he betrayed an early 
predilection, and served in the State militia in every grade, from 
that of the private up to brigadier-general. 

Mr. Butler was admitted to the bar in 1840, at twenty-two years 
of age. As a lawyer " he won his way rapidly to a lucrative prac- 
tice, and with sufficient rapidity to an important leading and con- 
spicuous position." As an opponent, he was bold, diligent, vehement, 
and inexhaustible. It was his well-settled theory, that his business 
was simply and solely to serve the interests of his client. "In some 
important particulars," says his biographer, " General Butler sur- 
passed all his contemporaries at the New England bar. His memory 
was such that he could retain the whole of the very longest trial 
without taking a note. His power of labor seemed unlimited. In 
fertility of expedient, and in the lightning quickness of his devices 
to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, his equal has seldom lived." 
" A verdict of guilty," says another, "is nothing to him ; it is only 
the beginning of the case. He has fifty exceptions ; a hundred motions 
in arrest of judgment ; and, after that, \\\ahaheas corjms and personal 
replevin." Hence, hisj professional success was extraordinary; and, 
when he left his practice to go to the war, he is said to have had a 
larger business than any other lawyer in the State. After ten years 
of practice at Lowell he opened an office in Boston also, and went 
thither and back punctually everyday; and so lucrative had his lm>- 
iness become at the beginning of the war, that it was worth, at a 
moderate estimate^ $18,000 annually. 

Yet General Butler was among the first, if not the very first of 
Northern men, to discern the coming of war, and to sound the note of 
preparation to meet it, and to leave behind his business, large and 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 3 

profitable as it was, and fly to the rescue. From the beginning of 
his career he had been one of the most determined and earnest of 
Democrats. He had been a leader of his party in Massachusetts, 
although a leader of a " forlorn hope." Yet when the great crisis 
came on he seemed at once to rise above party and party politics, 
and to think of nothing but crushing the rebellion, and crushing it, 
too, with speedy and heavy blows. Ascertaining, on a visit to Wash- 
ington, the designs of the Southern leaders, he warned them that 
those designs M-ould lead to war; that- the North would resist them to 
the death ; and notified them that he himself would be among the 
first to draw the sword against the attempt to break up the Union. 
Ketnrning home, he immediately conferred with Governor Andrew, 
assuring him that war was imminent, and that no time should be 
lost in the great matter of preparation, and that the militia of 
Massachusetts should be ready to move at a day's notice. The Gov- 
ernor acquiesced, and through the winter months, daily, except Sim- 
days, military drilling was the order of the day, and other necessary 
preparations of war were diligently prosecuted. Thus when, in the 
succeeding spring, the first and fatal blow fell, Massachusetts was 
ready, and at the call of the Government several full regiments were 
in a few hours on their way to Washington, under the command of 
General Butler. Then in quick succession we hear of the murder- 
ous attack on one of the regiments as it passed through Baltimore, 
of the landing of the 8th Massachusetts at Annapolis, of 'the march 
thence to Washington, of the quiet occupation by General Butler of 
the city of Baltimore and the consequent distress of poor old General 
Scott, of the approval of President Lincoln of Butler's promotion to 
the major-generalship, and of his assuming command of Fortress Mon- 
roe. During his brief command at this important post he exerted 1 
himself strenuously to bring order out of confusion. He extended 
his lines several miles inland, and was eager for a strong demonstra- 
tion upon Virginia from this point as a base of operations, but his 
views failed of acquiescence by the Government. It was while in this 
command that General Butler originated the shrewd device of pro- 
nouncing as contrabands the slaves that escaped into his lines from 



4. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

the neighboring country. The epithet was at once seen to be appro- 
priate as it was skillful, as by the enemy the blacks were esteemed as 
property; and as such property was used for aiding the rebellion, 
General Butler rationally concluded that it might be more properly 
employed in helping to crush it. Hence, this new species of contra- 
band property, instead of being returned to its alleged owners, 
was retained and set' to work for the Government. 

( m his recall from the command of Fortress Monroe, General 
Butler requested and obtained leave to recruit six regiments in the 
several New England States. With these new forces he was com- 
missioned, in conjunction with the naval squadron under command 
of Captain Farragut, to capture the city of New Orleans. The com- 
bined military and naval forces were at the mouths of the Missis- 
sippi in April of 18G2. Between them and New Orleans was 
105 miles ; and 30 miles up the river, one on each bank, and nearly 
opposite each other, were the two impregnable forts, Jackson and 
St. Philip, together with a huge chain cable, supported by anchored 
hulks, stretched sheer across the river. Added to these obstructions 
was. just above the fort, a fleet of armed steam vessels, ready to aid 
in disputing every inch of the terrible passage. After several days 
of severe bombarding, however, with but small impression upon 
cither fort, having succeeded in sundering the cable, the fleet, under 
cover of night, vet with a raking fire from the forts and an engage- 
ment with' the rebel squadron, passed the terrible batteries with com- 
paratively small loss, and proceeded triumphantly up to the city. 
The transport steamers, still at the river mouths, were then put in 
motion, and by a back passage General Butler landed the troops in 
the rear of the two forts, which with but little further resistance 
were surrendered, and their garrisons parolled. Then presently the 
General, having manned the forts with loyal troops, followed the 
fleet to the city, of which he took immediate possession, the rebel 
troops stationed there having retired precipitately. 

In New Orleans, General Butler was the right man in the right 
place. His government may not have been faultless; yet, if bring- 
ing order out of confusion, if providing for forty thousand starving 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 5 

poor, if the averting of pestilence by cleaning the filthy streets and 
squares and canals of the city, if giving the loyal citizens freedom of 
election, such as they never had before, and causing justice to be im- 
partially administered, if restoring to freedom slaves subjected to the 
most horrible oppression, if imparting salutary lessons on morals and 
manners to traitorous officials and ministers, and rebellious and impu- 
dent women— if these and a hundred other kindred measures were 
commendable and good, then was General Butler's career at New 
Orleans praiseworthy and eminently beneficial. Nor is it any mean 
confirmation of such statement that on being recalled by the Govern- 
ment, no word or hint was ever given him why such recall was 
ordered. 

During a few months which followed, General Butler, though with- 
out a command, was not idle, but ably supported the Government by 
public speeches in various places. His executive ability was soon 
called into requisition in the military command of New York, which 
was lately the scene of the terrible " draft riots." 

In the spring of 1864 he was assigned to the command of the 
Army of the James. He was expected to pave the way for the cap- 
ture of Petersburg and Richmond by the capture of the intermediate 
position of Bermuda. Hundred, which he speedily accomplished. 
In the assault on Petersburg General Butler and General Kautz gal- 
lantry carried out their parts of the plan, but the enterprise was un- 
successful, from the fact that General Gilmore failed to co-operate with 
the force at his command. We find General Butler patiently and labo- 
riously striving to effect the fall of Richmond, whether by hard work 
at Dutch Gap or successful fighting at. Deep Bottom and Straw- 
berry Plains. We next see him commanding the land forces to co- 
operate with a naval squadron under Admiral Porter in an expedition 
against Wilmington. Arriving before Fort Fisher December L'4, the 
squadron opened a terrific fire. The day following the land forces 
were disembarked, and a joint assault was ordered by sea and land. 
Upon moving forward to the attack, however, General Weitzel, 
,vho accompanied the column, came to the conclusion, from a careful 
reconnoisanceof the fort, that " it would be butchery to order an as- 



6 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 

sault." General Butler, having formed the same opinion from other 
information, re-embarked his troops and sailed for Hampton Roads. 
Upon his return to the James River he was relieved from the com- 
mand of the Army of the James, and ordered to report to Lowell, 
Massachusetts, his residence. 

Returning to civil life, General Butler was triumphantly elected 
Representative from Massachusetts to the Fortieth Congress, and re- 
elected to the Forty-first Congress. In the House of Representa- 
tives he has distinguished himself for activity and industry, and for 
skill and readiness in debate. He was prominent as a Radical, and 
assumed a leading position against the views and policy of President 
Johnson. In the impeachment of that functionary he was desig- 
nated as one of the managers for the people, and performed his part 
in that grave transaction with signal ability. 

In conclusion, while we do not contemplate General Butler as 
among the most faultless and prudent of men, we cannot at the same 
time r frain from assigning him an elevated rank among the heroic 
and distinguished spirits of his generation. He is emphatically a 
"man of mark," a man whose perceptions are keen and quick to an 
extraordinary degree, faithful and ready in expedients, sprightly and 
active beyond most men — of strong and determined purpose — ambi- 
tions, but true as steel in his patriotism — a man to have enemies, 
but friends also equally numerous and equally strong — a man like 
few others, yet just such a one as is needed under peculiar and 
extraordinary circumstances — a man bold, fearless, prompt, ingen- 
ious, talented, able, persistent, and efficient. 



EODEEIOK E. BUTLEE. 



$MW ODERICK R. BUTLER was born at Wytheville, Virginia, 

ff% April 8, 1827, was the youngest son of George Butler of 
'■W' Fincastle, Virginia, and grandson of Rev. J. G. Butler, who 
for many years was pastor of the Lutheran Church in Cumberland, 
Maryland. 

At the age of thirteen the subject of this sketch was bound an ap- 
prentice to the tailor's trade. At eighteen he emigrated to East 
Tennessee, and settled in Taylorsville, Johnson County, where he 
has ever since resided. Arriving at his majority he studied law, 
was admitted to the bar in 1853, and practised his profession with 
success. From his youth he was a "Whig in politics, and acted uni- 
formly with that party until he became a Republican. His first 
public office was that of postmaster for Taylorsville, which he re- 
ceived by appointment from President Fillmore. In 1856 he was 
elected county judge. In 1859 he was elected a member of the Lower 
House of the Tennessee Legislature. Having been re-elected, he was 
a member of that body at the breaking out of the rebellion, and 
took a firm stand in favor of the Union. He was one of fifteen 
who voted in the Legislature against the formation by Tennessee of a 
military league with the " Confederate States." He was arrested in 
1862, taken to Knoxville, and tried for treason against the " Con- 
federate States," but owing to the absence of a witness was not con- 
victed. He was seized a second time on a similar charge, but 
through the intervention of friends was released, and made his way 
through the rebel lines into Kentucky. 

He was authorized by General Burnside to raise a regiment for 
the Union army, which he partially recruited when he was ordered 

to unite with Col. John K. Miller of the 13th Tennessee Cavalry, of 

21 

'3 



2 RODERICK R. BUTLER. 

which he was commissioned as lieutenant-colonel. He was a dele- 
gate to the Baltimore Convention in 1864, and cast his vote, as in- 
structed, for Lincoln and Johnson. He was elected a State Senator 
in April, 1S65, and in the following June was appointed judge of the 
First Judicial Circuit, which office he held until November, 1867. 

He was elected to the Fortieth Congress as a Republican, in opposi- 
tion to the policy of President Johnson, whose residence was within 
his district, receiving a majority of eleven thousand votes. Mr. 
Butler was re-elected to the Forty-first Congress by an almost unan- 
imous vote of the district, only about one hundred and fifty votes 
being polled against him. Johnson County, in which he resides, did 
not cast a vote against him, and gave but one vote for Seymour and 
Blair. 

His seat in the Fortieth Congress having been contested on the 
ground that he was a member of the Tennessee Legislature under 
the rebel government, Mr. Dawes, chairman of the Committee on 
Elections, after having fully investigated the case, bore the following 
emphatic testimony: 

" There is presented in the person of Mr. Butler a remarkable in- 
stance of a man of position in the community in which he resided, 
of influence among his fellow-men, of such mind and character and 
attainments among his fellow-citizens as to exert a wide-spread influ- 
ence for good or for evil, who, at the outbreak of the rebellion never 
trembled in the balance between Union and disloyalty, but stepped 
out from associations and from influences calculated to draw him into 
the vortex of the rebellion and broke away from such influence, and 
facing the danger and peril of the hour, actuated by patriotism as 
pure, as disinterested, as self-sacrificing, and efficient as ever actuated 
any gentleman occupying a position where he could make his mark 
or his influence felt in the great struggle through which we have 
passed." 

A resolution was passed by Congress relieving Mi-. Butler from- his 
alleged disabilities. In the Fortieth Congress was a member of the 
Committee on the Revision of the Laws of the United States. 




/fef,CW<*- 



HENRY L. CAKE. 




&ENRY L. CAKE was born in Northumberland, Pennsylva- 
nia, October 6, 1827. After receiving such education as 
^ was afforded by the public schools of his native village, he 
applied himself to learning the art of printing, first in the office of 
the u State Capital Gazette," and afterwards in the office of the 
" Democratic Union," at Harrisburg. In 1846 he joined some of his 
companions in raising a company in Harrisburg for the war in 
Mexico, but, after the company was accepted, he was kept at home 
by the interference of his relatives. He afterwards worked in the 
office of the " Pottsville Emporium," and subsequently went to Phila- 
delphia, where, as a journeyman printer, he worked successively in the 
offices of the " Daily Chronicle," and the "Daily Pennsylvanian," 
and in the establishment of Messrs. L. Johnson & Co. 

In the spring of 1849 he was employed in the coal business by the 
Forest Improvement Company, and removed to Schuylkill County. 
After remaining in the service of that company a year, he purchased 
a small interest in a coal-screen factory in Pottsville, and took the 
personal management of the works. 

In June, 1854, he was elected brigadier-general of the 1st Brigade, 
6th Division, Uniformed Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served five 
years, during which term there was much interest manifested in his 
brigade, which was the strongest in the State. 

An active politician, his lot had been cast with the Democratic 
party by reason of his associations, but having early become imbued 
with the principles of protection to home industry, the Democracy 
could never safely calculate upon his assistance, when it put forward 
candidates who were not decided tariff men. 

The passage of the Omnibus bill by Congress in 1850, followed by 



2 HENRY L. CAKE. 

the Kansas-Nebraska bill in 1854, induced him to secure an interest 
in the Democratic newspapers in Potts ville, the " Emporium " and 
the " Mining Register," in order to influence them in attempting to 
preserve the status of the party. The attempt to force the Lecompton 
constitution into the platform divided the Democratic party, and, in 
1S60, Mr. Cake took a prominent part in the canvass for Douglas, 
denouncing all who favored even a temporary compromise with the 
Breckenridge wing of the party. 

The weekly issue of his paper, the " Pottsville Mining Record," 
was a constant warning, from 1858 until the war began, that the poli- 
ticians of the South, encouraged by mistaken Democratic leaders 
throughout the North, meant to rebel against the government. To 
his mind the Democratic party was deliberately and wilfully de- 
stroyed, in order that an excuse for rebellion might ensue in the elec- 
tion of Mr. Lincoln. So fully had this thought taken possession of 
his mind, that he tried to induce his military associates to form, arm, 
and drill a regiment for active service when called upon ; but his own 
time being engrossed in the attention required by a constantly-in- 
creasing business, which included the mining and shipping of coal, 
the management of two factories, a store, and printing establishment, 
the suggestion was not carried out. But to his efforts mainly was 
due the fact that his own company, the Pottsville National Light 
Infantry, was kept together. The armory of the infantry was in the 
hall over his store and counting-house. He was captain of the com- 
pany during the time he was at the head of the brigade, but for two 
years previous to the rebellion it was commanded by his friend Capt. 
Edmund McDonald, Gen. Cake holding only the rank of first cor- 
poral in the organization. 

On the evening of Thursday, April 11, 1861, the company met to 
perfect the details of its annual concert, to come off on the first Mon- 
day in May. After the business for which the meeting had been 
called was disposed of, Gen. Cake, who had returned that evening 
from a hurried business visit to New York and Philadelphia, stated 
that the firing on the " Star of the West " in Charleston harbor had 



HENRY L. CAKE. 3 

precipitated the civil conflict he had dreaded, but deemed inevitable, 
and constantly predicted for two years past ; that, in his opinion, it 
was going to surpass the most terrible war on record, and that for 
those who intended to take part in it there would be some honor in 
being first in the field. Every man present at once volunteered. A 
committee was appointed (Capt. E. W. McDonald, Lieut. Louis J. 
Martin, and Gen. Cake), to forward the resolutions offering the 
services of the company to Gen. Cameron, Secretary of War, at 
Washington, and to Gov. Curtin, at Harrisburg. The duty was per- 
formed that night. The next morning the recruiting flag was hoisted 
over the armory, and J. Addison McCool, F. W. Conrad, and other 
employees of Gen. Cake were started, with drums and flags, in a 
four-horse band-wagon, and the business of war was commenced in 
Pottsville. That day Sumter fell. The next, Saturday, April 13, 
Gen. Cameron telegraphed the acceptance of the company. Re- 
cruiting was brisk. On Monday, the 15th, the call for 75,000 troops 
was published in all the newspapers, and the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, Hon. Eli Slifer, telegraphed the acceptance of the com- 
pany. In the meantime, the always successful rival of the infantry, 
the Pottsville Washington Artillery, w T as not idle. Capt. James 
Wren telegraphed the offer of its services to Harrisburg, which were 
accepted by Mr. Slifer within two hours after he had accepted the 
infantry. Both companies were ordered to Harrisburg on Wednes- 
day, April 17, where they met the Ringgold Artillery, of Reading, 
the Logan Guards, of Lewistown, and the Allen Infantry, of Allen- 
town. At six o'clock on the morning of Thursday, April 18, these 
troops were mustered into the service of the United States, and imme- 
diately ordered off to Washington by way of York and Baltimore. 
Soon after the train left York a telegram was received stating that 
it would be impossible to march through Baltimore without a conflict 
with the mob, and when it arrived within twenty-five miles of Balti- 
more the authorities of that city ordered it to stop, stating that the 
news of the approaching train with volunteers for Washington had 
excited the mob to frenzy. The train was thereupon shoved into 



4 HENRY L. CAKE. 

a siding. If a conductor had been on the train he had disappeared, 
and no one in authority could be found to be consulted. At this 
juncture, Capt. McDonald, at the instance of Gen. Cake, called a 
meeting of the officers, and stated that he was going on with his 
company if he had to take charge of the engine and one car for the 
purpose. He was promptly joined in the resolution by all the officers 
in the battalion, and the train was put in motion and kept on its 
way, notwithstanding the menacing telegrams received from Balti- 
more at every station. Upon arriving at the Calvert street station 
the crowd was so dense and demonstrative that the motion was re- 
versed and the train was shoved back to the Bolton station, where 
the battalion was formed in line before the excited Baltimorians 
arrived. The men had been cautioned not to answer any abuse or 
threats, nor to resent any demonstration short of actual violence. In 
case of attack they were to remain close together, and they had that 
confidence in themselves that would have rendered it hazardous to 
block their passage through the city. All the violence that could be 
offered by words was heaped upon them, and some stones and clubs 
were thrown ; but the quiet, orderly, and determined march of that 
five hundred men, for the most part unarmed and ununifonned, had 
much of menace in it, and though the mob felt sure of the sympathy 
of the police, who made a show of guarding the flanks, the battalion 
reached the Washington depot in good time, and arrived in Wash- 
ington before dark — where they were hailed by thousands of the 
loyal sojourners as the saviors of the capitol, and were quartered in 
the halls of the Senate and Ilouse of Representatives. The Massa- 
chusetts troops arrived twenty-four hours afterwards. 

Thus, on the 18th of April, the first soldiers had reached Washing- 
ton from the North. Mr. Cake having been formally elected, that 
morning, before being mustered into service, to fill the vacancy exist- 
ing in his company for second lieutenant, he was further promoted on 
the 1st of Miv following, by the unanimous vote of officers and men, 
colonel of the regiment, which, instead of being called " lst," which 
it was, in fact, was numbered the " 25th" of the Pennsylvania line. 

ft 



HENRY L. CAKE. 5 

Arriving at "Washington with the first soldiers that enlisted for 
the defence of the nation, Gen. Cake can justly claim to be the first 
^Northern man to raise the flag in active service against the rebellion. 

After serving three and a half months the 25th was mustered out, 
and its colonel was authorized to reorganize his regiment at Potts- 
ville, which was rapidly accomplished, and he again took the field 
at the head of the 96th Pennsylvania. His command took part in 
every battle fought by the army of the Potomac, and gained, under 
him, a reputation for endurance, discipline, and courage that it never 
lost. During the time that he served, whether in command of the 
regiment, brigade, or division, he shared all the dangers and hard- 
ships of his men. 

He resigned his commission in the summer of 1863, in order to save 
a very fine property from destruction. He devoted himself with 
energy to business, and became president of the Philadelphia Coal 
Company, one of the most successful enterprises in the anthracite re- 
gion, owned exclusively by himself and his partner. 

He was the Union candidate of Schuylkill County for the Penn- 
sylvania State Senate, in 1861, and again, in 1861:. He was elected, 
as a Republican, to the Fortieth Congress for the Tenth District of 
Pennsylvania, in 1866. His predecessor was a Democrat, and his 
district was regarded as devotedly Democratic, yet Gen. Cake in 
Congress acted with the most radical Republicans, being among the 
first to demand the impeachment of President Johnson, and he was 
rewarded by his constituents with a re-election by an increased 
majority. 






JOHN B. OALLIS. 




*OHN B. CALLIS was bom in Fayetteville, North Carolina, 
January 3, 1828. He removed to Carroll County, Ten- 
nessee, in 1834, and thence to Wisconsin in 1840, where he 
received a common school education, and engaged in business pur- 
suits. Soon after the breaking out of the rebellion, he entered the 
Union army as a captain in the 7th Wisconsin, and was promoted in 
1862 to be lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment, in which he 
served until he was badly wounded in the battle of Gettysburg, 
July, 1, 1863, and was consequently honorably mustered out, De- 
cember 29, 1S63. He entered the Veteran Eeserve Corps in 1S64, 
and was on duty in Washington, District of Columbia, as superin- 
tendent of the War Department until December, 1865. He was 
brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers, March 7, 1864. After 
the close of the war he was appointed captain in the 45th United 
States Infantry, and major and lieutenant-colonel by brevet in the 
regular army. In 1865 he settled in Alabama, and resigned his 
commission February 4, 1868, for the purpose of devoting his atten- 
tion to civil pursuits. He was elected a Representative from the Fifth 
District of Alabama to the Fortieth Congress, as a Republican, and 
having been admitted to his seat July 21, 1868, was appointed a 
member of the Committee on Enrolled Bills. He introduced three 
bills providing for the establishment of mail routes in Alabama, and 
live bills for the removal of political disabilities from southern citi- 
zens. He also introduced a bill granting a loan of $5,000,000, of 
the 5 per cent, bonds of the United States to the New Orleans and 
Selma Railroad and Immigrant Association, and a bill granting 
lands in the State of Alabama to the Tennessee and Coosa Railroad 
Company. 



SAMUEL F. OAET. 




HE subject of this sketch is a lineal descendant of John Cary, 
of the Plymouth Colony. His father, William Cary, emi- 
grated from New Hampshire to the Northwest Territory 
before Ohio became a State. His mother, Rebecca Fenton, was a 
native of the State of New York, and was a sister of Governor 
Fen ton's father. 

Samuel Fenton Cary was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 18, 
1814. In the same year his father removed to a farm in the wilder- 
ness, six miles from Cincinnati. The place is now known as College 
Hill, and is the seat of Farmers' College, founded by Freeman G. 
Cary, and the Ohio Female College, established by Samuel F. Carv, 
two brothers who, with rare taste and public spirit, expended their 
patrimony in rearing these noble institutions as monuments on the 
paternal estate. 

Young Cary was graduated at Miami University, in the class of 
1835. Shortly after his graduation he entered the Cincinnati Law 
School, and received its honors in 1837. He was immediately admit- 
ted to practice, and at once took rank with the first young members 
of the Cincinnati bar. His practice rapidly increased, and when he 
relinquished the profession in 1845, no man of his age in the State of 
Ohio had a larger business, or more enviable reputation as an advocate. 

Obeying his philanthropic impulses, Mr. Cary abandoned the bar, 
in spite of the remonstrances of his numerous admirers, and began to 
devote all his energies to the cause of Temperance. In behalf of 
this great reform, he has made more public addresses, has been 
heard l.\ a greater [lumber of persons, and has made larger contribu- 
tions of time and money than any other man in the United States. 



2 SAMUEL F. CARY. 

He lias been repeatedly heard in all the principal cities and towns 
in twenty-six States, and all the British Provinces in North America. 
No less than 400,000 have been induced by him to sign the pledge of 
total abstinence, and a multitude that no man can number bless his 
name. 

Mr. Cary early became a Son of Temperance, and in 1848 was 
chosen the head of the Order in North America. During the two 
years of his official term, he visited twenty-two States and Provinces, 
and the Order was more than doubled in the number of its member- 
ship. For twenty years he was the gratuitous editor of Temperance 
papers of large circulation, and has written several valuable tracts that 
have been widely distributed and read. 

As early as 1840, Mr. Gary acquired a great reputation as a politi- 
cal speaker, and took a prominent and active part in the Harrison 
campaign. In every Presidential campaign since that time his ser- 
vices have been sought and appreciated. There is probably not a 
man in the United States who is his superior on the stump. During 
the late civil war he was indefatigable and very successful in his 
efforts to till up the ranks of the Union Army. 

His style of speaking is peculiarly his own. A distinguished 
writer has said of him that " he speaks like a Greek, with the ease, 
the grace, the naturalness of the ancient orators." His speeches are 
the happiest combination of logic, argument, wit, sarcasm, pathos, 
apt illustrations, and felicitous anecdotes. He plays upon the pas- 
sions and feelings of an audience with consummate skill. His per- 
sonale gives force to his utterances. He is five feet eleven inches in 
height, weighs two hundred pounds, has dark complexion, a large head, 
with an unusual amount of hair, large black and speaking eves, with 
a full, clear, and well-modulated voice. He never becomes hoarse, 
never tires, and often speaks three or four hours in the open air for 
successive days and weeks. lie uses no notes or manuscripts, and 
Weaves in every passing incident with most happy effect. 

It had with many been a matter of surprise that with the eminent 
talents ami ability of Mr. Cary, < >hio had for so long a time failed to 



SAMUEL F. CART. 3 

av«ail herself of his services in the national councils. Two reasons 
for this have been given ; first, that his ambition did not take that 
direction ; and secondly, that his prominence as an advocate of a 
greart moral reform has led political managers to imagine that he 
would not be an available candidate. 

In the summer of 18GT, the Republicans of the Second Ohio 
District very generally expressed a desire to have Mr. Cary as their 
candidate for Congress. Distrust in his availability, however, in- 
duced some of the leaders of the party to take ground against him, 
and the Republican Congressional Convention gave the nomina- 
tion to Richard Smith, Esq., editor of the Cincinnati Gazette. Mr. 
Cary was induced to go before the people as an independent 
candidate. The city of Cincinnati was greatly excited by the 
contest which ensued. Mr. Cary made numerous public ad- 
dresses. He avowed himself the champion of the working-men. 
He advocated making eight hours a legal day's work, and issuing 
greenbacks to replace the interest-bearing bonds of the Government. 
Mr. Cary receiving the votes of most of the Democrats of the Dis- 
trict, and some of the Republicans, was elected by 959 majority. 

In October, 1868, Mr. Cary was a candidate for re-election to the 
Forty-first Congress. Taking no part in Presidential politics, but 
running as the champion of the working-men, without regard to party, 
in a District giving 3,600 majority for Grant, he was defeated by less 
than 500 votes, gaining largely upon his former vote. In the Fortieth 
Congress, Mr. Cary took a prominent part. He opposed the impeach- 
ment of the President. In a speech of five minutes he presented his 
views of this subject as follows : 

" If I comprehend the question, it is not whether President 
Johnson is a traitor to the party which placed him in power, nor 
whether he has prevented the reconstruction of the Southern States, 
responsible for the Xew Orleans riots, and for the assassinations of 
loyal men, nor whether he is a bad man generally and unfit to be 
trusted. AVe <l<»n<>t arraign him before the high court of impeachment 
on the common count-, but for an unlawful effort to rid himself of a 

3- 



4 SAMUEL F. CARY. 

Cabinet Minister, or, to state the case strongly, for an open and 
deliberate violation of the Tenure-of-OfHce law. The Cabinet of the 
President constitute his constitutional advisers, and should obviously 
consist of men with whom the President can have unreserved and 
confidential intercourse. To force upon the President a Cabinet 
Minister who is openly and avowedly an enemy of his administration, 
and one with whom the President can have no intercourse, is mani- 
festly so unfair and improper that no fair-minded men, not influenced 
by a malignant partisan zeal, can or will justify it. 

"I must not be understood as impeaching the ability, integrity, 
and patriotism of Secretary Stanton. All these are fully established. 
As a War Minister; history will accord to him the first place. I doubt 
whether bis equal has lived in any age. Deeply as we may regret a 
rupture between the President and his Minister of War, it did 
occur, and it is not our present duty to inquire who was in fault. The 
Senate restored Mr. Stanton to the office from which he had been 
removed by the President, and I do not arraign that body for their 
action. If, at that juncture, when Mr. Stanton was vindicated by the 
Senate, he had gracefully bowed himself out of the President's 
household, bo would have had the sympathy and confidence of the 
people, and would have added magnanimity to his list of patriotic 
TirtneB. Either upon his own motion, <>r acting by the advice of others 
(most probably the latter), he chose to remain unbidden as a confi- 
dential adviser of the President. There has been such a manifest 
want of courtesy, such a persistent and dogged determination to 
badger and bully the President, that the people will condemn Stanton, 
and sympathize with, if they do not justify, the President, however 
much they may despise him. 

"In the present aspect of the case, my desire is that the Supreme 
Court, our highest judicial tribunal, shall be invoked to decide the 
rights of the President under the Constitution, and the constitutionality 
of the Civil-Tenure bill. 






tfs14/£ 



JOH^s" WINTHEOP CHANLEK. 




^OHN WINTHEOP CHANLEE was born in the city of 
New York in 1S26. Having graduated in Columbia Col- 
lege, New York, in 1847, lie studied law, and practiced the 
profession until 1859, when he entered political life as a member of 
the New York State Assembly. In 1860 he was nominated for the 
State Senate, and declined. In the same year he was a candidate 
for Eepresentative for the Sixth District of New York, but was de- 
feated. Two years later, he was elected a Eepresentative to the 
Thirty-eighth Congress, from the Seventh New York District, and was 
re-elected to the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses. In the Thirty- 
eighth Congress he served on the Committee on Patents; in the 
Thirty-ninth on the Committee on Patents, and the Bankrupt Law ; 
and in the Fortieth Congress on the Committee on Patents, Elections, 
and Southern Eailroads. 

Mr. Chanler has been prominent among the Democrats of Con- 
gress, advocating with zeal and eloquence the views of the minority 
on the important subjects of recent legislation. On the 10th of De- 
cember, 1867, Mr. Chanler delivered a speech in the House of Eepre- 
sentatives, in reply to Mr. Thaddeus Stevens, on his Southern Confis- 
cation Bill, from which we make the following extract: 

" Confiscation is a method by which a conqueror robs his foes and 
rewards bis friends. Two distinct acts are done by it, and two dis- 
tinct motives actuate it. One result is sought by it, namely, security 
to the State established by the conqueror. All confiscation is rob- 
bery ; it is the tool of the tyrant and the oppressor, who, under the 
law of might, creates his title to that which was another's. History 



2 JOHN W. CHANLEK. 

is filled with examples of confiscation. Founded in violence, sus- 
tained by fraud, and sanctioned by necessity, it has become one of the 
established methods by which States are overthrown and maintained. 
Revolutions, civil wars, conspiracies, assassinations, work the decay 
of dynasties, parties, and States ; but by confiscation the victor seizes 
the spoils, and holds possession by the right of arms. Confiscation 
and proscription have moved hand in hand through all the changes 
and fluctuations of empire, and have come down to us heavy with 
crimes of past ages, and stained with the blood, and burdened with the 
wrongs of uncounted thousands whom man's inhumanity to man has 
made to mourn. The Roman triumvirs divided the empire and 
doomed their dearest friends to assassination in the same breath. 
The genius and eloquence of Cicero could not save him from the doom 
which partisan hate decreed against him. The empire of Augustus 
was cemented with blood and enriched by the wealth of obnoxious 
men, proscribed by his partisans in a spirit of revenge and avarice. 
Roman liberty lost her last great advocate in the death of Cicero. 
Roman empire began when the spirit of liberty was silenced by the 
edict of proscription and confiscation. All along the highway of his- 
tory are strewn magnificent monuments reared to commemorate this 
mighty wrong by the successful tyrant of the era. No reader of the 
inscriptions which they bear, can leave their perusal without cherish- 
ing a hope that in his day no ruthless tyrant shall rob him of his 
patrimony, his freedom, or his life. Confiscation is one of the hid- 
eous monsters chained to the car of grim-visaged war, and never should 
be let loose to raven for its prey. It legitimately is only an instru- 
ment of terror, and should not be let loose to destroy. In time of 
peace it should be nowhere seen or heard; savage, cruel, destroying, 
it has no place among civilized, humane, and law-abiding men in 
times like these." 

Having sj token of the general character of confiscation laws, and 
the punishments usual anion-- civilized nations, Mr. Chanler said of 
this particular measure : 

" It is a legal, lineal offspring of that body of laws which sent the 

1>' 



JOHN W. CHANLER. 3 

commissioners of Herod to every household to fetch him the young 
child whom he feared. It is of the same kind as those memorable 
laws of Spain which drove the Moors from their homes in Andalusia ; 
and of that edict of France which sent Protestant Huguenots to this 
land, and everywhere out of their native land, in search of a home. 

" It is the same kind of laws, in a written form, as the crude laws 
of conquest issued by the commissioners of the King of Dahomey, of 
Congo, or any barbaric absolute monarchs of Central Africa, which 
strips every prisoner of every right to live, save at the option of the 
conqueror. The object is the same, the effect the same — revenge ! 
revenge ! revenge — and all in the name of justice under the cover 
of law — cruel, bad law — terrible, dire vengeance, carrying desola- 
tion and ruin in its course — blear-eyed justice, seeing only the ave- 
nues of wrono; and crueltv. 

" It was one of a long series of indictments which, as the great 
dragon 'swinges the horrors of his twisted tail,' was to close in upon 
the white race of the Southern States, and to strangle them into a 
torpor worse than death — the torpor of political subordination to the 
negro. This is the tail of this horrid monster of political atrocity ; 
it carries the sting which was to rob the white race of all political 
vitality in the future. Its fiery breath was to light up the flames of 
another civil war of races — the prize to the conquering race to be the 
public lands in the Southern States. That the negro might be 
stronger and more irresistible for evil in this conflict, the Secretary of 
"War is, by this bill, made monarch of the black kingdom of Dixie — 
supreme and mighty lord, serene invincible sovereign and com- 
mander-in-chief of the black armies which were and may hereafter 
be enrolled into our services, armed and equipped, without law of 
Congress, but on the mere general order of the War Secretary. That 
money might be had for this black horde without additional tax, the 
lands confiscated by this bill are to be sold — always, however, under 
the commission of this sovereign Secretary of War, who shall make 
a trust fund of a large part of the proceeds of the sale, to keep the 
families of his black warriors in ho£ and hominy, while the throats 



4. JOHN W. CHANLER. 

of white citizens are being heroically cut, or their starved bodies 
stuck with black bayonets." 

On the 6th of February, 1868, Mr. Chanler delivered an able 
speech in the House of Eepresentatives on the Eights of American 
citizens abroad, from which we make the following brief extract : 

" It does not properly belong, perhaps, to this branch of the Gov- 
ernment, to mar the harmony which may exist between the Secretary 
of State and our foreign relations. But if the Eepresentatives of a 
free and brave nation do not use every means in their power to 
redress the wrongs done by the oppressor of American citizens at home 
or abroad, the curse of that nation will justly rest upon their memory. 
The brand of sloth and neglect will be stamped on our names in 
history, when the inevitable consequence of the long list of griev- 
ances under which the naturalized citizen has lived in this country 
since the Eevolution, shall culminate in universal Fenianism, involv- 
ing this Government in a labyrinth of discords, complicated by dis- 
grace. 

" The destinies and rights of many million emigrants from Europe 
to this country, are in our hands. A new epoch has been made in 
the law of nations by the power of steam. The lateen-sails which 
wooed the breeze to waft the Asiatic races along the shores of In- 
dian and Chinese seas, now flap idly on their reedy masts, as the 
swift steamer rides the deep, laden with the adventurous freight of 
human beings departing from Asia, to seek labor in the Western 
World, or coming from Europe to seek their fortunes in Australasia. 
The barriers built by Confucius are battered down by progress and 
Christian civilization. The Chinese wall of exclusiveness and 
despotism is crumbling at the sound of the steam-whistle, more ter- 
rible to barbarians than an army with banners." 



* * * 






JOEDsT O. OHUEGHILL. 




'OHN C. CHURCHILL was born at Mooers, Clinton County, 
New York, January 17, 1821. His father was a farmer 
in moderate circumstances, with little means at his dis- 
posal for the liberal education of his son, who was consequently 
mainly dependent on his own resources for education more extensive 
than was to be procured in the common schools. He graduated at 
Middlebury College, Vermont, in 1813 ; adopted the profession of 
law, and commenced practice in the city of Oswego, where he has 
continued to reside. From 1857 to 1860 he was district-attorney 
for Oswego County, and subsequently, until 1861, was county judge. 
In 1866 he was elected a Representative from the Twenty-second 
District of New York to the Fortieth Congress, and was re-elected 
to the Forty-first Congress. 

During the Fortieth Congress he was a member of the Judiciary 
Committee, and with Mr. Boutwell and Mr. Eldridge formed the 
sub-committee that drafted the Fifteenth Amendment to the Consti- 
tution in the form in which it was finally adopted, to wit : " The 
right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not he denied or 
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, 
color, or previous condition of servitude." Mr. Churchill joined 
with a majority of the Judiciary Committee in a report recommend- 
ing the impeachment of President Johnson. He presented a report, 
revising and improving the judiciary systems of the territories of 
Montana and Idaho. In an able speech before the House, he sup- 
ported a bill for constructing a ship canal around the Falls of 
Niagara. 

22 

3v? 



READER W. CLARKE. 



&h9?EADER WEIGHT CLAEKE was born in Bethel, Clermont 
County, Ohio, on the 18th of May, 1812. His father was a 
$M native of Yorkshire, England, and his mother was of Scotch- 
Irish descent, born in Surry County, North Carolina. He was 
raised in a village, but employed in his youth in farming. His educa- 
tion was obtained by attending school in the winter, and private in- 
struction at home by his father, who was a man of liberal education. 
He learned the art of printing, and at eighteen years of age established 
a paper at Eockville, Parke County, Indiana, called the " "Wabash 
Herald," the first paper ever printed in that county. In 1833 he 
was married, and in May of that year located at Shawneetown, 
Illinois, where he published the " Illinois Journal." In consequence 
of the ill-health of his family, he removed in 1834 to Ohio, where 
he engaged in mercantile pursuits, in the meantime reading law. 
His business proved disastrous, and he was completely prostrated 
financially. He struggled along as best he could, with little or no 
means, and managed to keep up his law reading, buying his own 
books, and reading without a preceptor, until April, 1S36, when he 
was admitted to the bar of his native county. About the same 
time he engaged in the newspaper business, and with A. M. Gest 
established the "Clermont Courier," a radical Whig paper, that 
started out in the support of General Harrison for the Presidency. 
With that paper he has been connected, as publisher, editor, or cor- 
respondent, for more than thirty years. In 1838 he was a candidate 
for Prosecuting Attorney of his county, and although his party was 
in the minority over five hundred votes, he only fell thirty-six votes 
Bhort of election. In 1840 he was a candidate for the Legislature, 
was elected by a large majority, and re-elected in 1841, when he 







^M^a^u 



READER W. CLARKE. 2 

declined further to be a candidate. In the Legislature he was a 
leading member, and Chairman of the Committee on Public Print- 
ing. His report in that capacity attracted much attention, and drew 
down upon him the wrath of the opposition press, and especially 
that of Samuel Medary, then public printer of the State. In 181.1 
he was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, and candidate foi 
elector on the Whig ticket that year, and aided in casting the elec- 
toral vote of Ohio for Henry Clay. In 1S16 he was appointed Clerk 
of the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts of his county, which posi- 
tion he held until 1852, when the new Constitution went into effect 
and the office became elective, and he was not a candidate for the 
place. 

In 1858 he was the Republican candidate for Congress, in a Dis- 
trict with over fifteen hundred opposition majority. He was beaten 
about eight hundred, carrying his own county by seven majority, 
when the Democratic majority was over five hundred — Mr. Howard, 
his competitor, residing in the same county with him. In 1860 he 
was a delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was one of the Ohio 
delegation most zealous for the nomination of Mr. Lincoln. In 1861 
he was the Republican nominee for Congress for the 6th District of 
Ohio, and elected by a large majority over Chilton A. White, the 
then sitting member. He was re-elected in 1866 over Mr. Howard 
by a decided majority, and in 1868 was defeated in convention by a 
whisky ring, to which he refused to surrender. At the close of his 
Congressional term, in 1869, he was appointed Third Auditor of 
the Treasury of the United States, which office he now holds. 

In Congress he was always found acting with the Radical Repub- 
licans. His speeches in the House, which are carefully prepared and 
read from manuscript, will compare favorably with the best. A 
practical economist all his life, in Congress he uniformly voted against 
all measures of extravagance and prodigality. His private character, 
and his integrity and uprightness are unquestioned. 






SIDNEY CLAKKE. 




V|gflDNEY CLARKE was born at Southbridge, Worcester 
County, Massachusetts, October 16, 1831. His ancestors 
were among the earliest settlers of New England, and were 
numbered among the stanch loyalists of the Revolution. His 
grandfather was an officer under General Gates at the battle of 
Stillwater, and was present at the surrender of the British Army 
under General Burgoyne, at Saratoga. His father served in the war 
of 1812, and was a well known and prominent citizen of the county 
in which he resided. His mother was a woman of fine mind, great 
energy of character, and of devoted piety, and the mother of seven 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the youngest. 

Mr. Clarke did not enjoy the advantages of a liberal education. At 
eighteen years of age, he left the farm and district school, to engage in 
mercantile pursuits at Worcester, Massachusetts. "While thus em- 
ployed, he commenced to write for the press, and soon obtained recog- 
nition as a versatile and forcible contributor. 

It was at this time he became an active member of a literary so- 
ciety, whose members were young men who, in the main, were de- 
nied by their circumstances the advantages of a liberal education, but 
who, by means of the opportunities enjoyed in this and similar orga- 
nizations, acquired compensating attainments. In debate, as well as 
in other exercises, Mr. Clarke soon occupied a prominent position. 

In 1854, he returned to his native town, and became the editor and 
proprietor of the Southbridge Press, a weekly newspaper, which he 
continued for five years to edit and publish. During this time he 
toot an active part in politics, identifying himself with the Free Soil 

3' 



SIDNEY CLARKE. 2 

party. His first vote was cast for Hale and Julian, in the election of 
1852. In 1856 he was a warm supporter of Gen. Fremont, and ren- 
dered efficient service both as editor and speaker throughout that 
memorable campaign. In the spring of 1858, in accordance with the 
advice of his physicians, he sought the more genial climate of Kansas, 
visiting the settled portions of the territory, and becoming ardently 
interested in the future of that historic community. The following 
year he fulfilled his purpose of making Kansas his home, and settled 
at Lawrence, in Douglas County. During the first two years of his 
residence in Kansas, Mr. Clarke became actively engaged in political 
affairs, and warmly espoused the cause of the " Radical wing " of the 
Free State party. 

In 1862, he was elected to the State Legislature, where he at once 
took front rank among the many able men who composed that body. 
In 1863, he was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General of Volun- 
teers, by Mr. Lincoln, and was at once assigned to duty in the Bureau 
of the Provost-Marshal General as Acting Assistant Provost-Marshal 
General for the District of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota, 
with headquarters at Leavenworth, Kansas. In this line of duty he 
at once obtained recognition as an efficient and popular administra- 
tive officer. In the strict enforcement of the provisions of the 
Enrollment Act, and the superintending of the volunteer recruiting 
service, his office in a widely-extended district was a model of perfect 
organization and efficiency. 

At the Republican State Convention, in the autumn of 1863, Mr. 
Clarke was chosen Chairman of the Republican State Central Com- 
mittee, a position previously held by the ablest of the old Free State 
leaders. From this time forward, his record has been one of cease- 
less activity and constantly enlarging influence in the political affairs 
of his State. So long as General Jas. II. Lane remained the advocate 
and exponent of Radical ideas, he heartily sympathized with and 
supported him. When the Legislature of 1864 irregularly elected 
Gov. Thomas Carney United States Senator, to supplant General 
Lane, Mr Clarke went at once before the people, promptly denouncing 

333 



3 SIDNEY CLARKE. 

the election as fraudulent and illegal, and the fruit of a conspiracy. 
The campaign fully established his reputation for ability and politi- 
cal sagacity, and the action of the Legislature was overwhelmingly 
repudiated. On the opening of the Presidential campaign of 1864 
Mr. Clarke canvassed the State in favor of Mr. Lincoln's re-election ; 
and by the State Convention of his party, on the 8th of September, 
1864, was nominated as a candidate for the Thirty-ninth Congress. 

Although bitterly opposed by malcontents, who coalesced with the 
Democrats to secure his defeat, he was triumphantly elected over 
his competitor, General Albert L. Lee, by more than fifteen hundred 
majority. He was renominated for the Fortieth Congress by acclama- 
tion, and was elected by a majority of more than eleven thousand. 
For the third time renominated, he has again been re-elected, receiv- 
ing the handsome indorsement of a majority of about seventeen 
thousand. 

Asa member of Congress, Mr. Clarke has worked with great indus- 
try for the interests of his constituents, and enjoys the reputation of 
an able, zealous, and faithful representative. As a member of the 
House Committee of Indian Affairs and the Pacific Railroad Com- 
mittee, while representing a new State, extensive in territory, with 
diversified local interests, and rapidly developing its vast resources, he 
has secured the confidence of his constituents by steadfast devotion 
to the rights and interests of the great mass of the people. His first 
speech in Congress was on behalf of unqualified impartial suffrage 
in the District of Columbia, and he has always advocated and voted 
for the legislation which represents the advanced ideas of the Repub- 
lican organization. He has participated in all the leading conflicts 
which have made the policy of Congress memorable during the six 
years last passed, while assiduously laboring for local measures, looking 
toward the material development of the State he represents. Mr. 
Clarke possesses an active, nervous temperament, but is endowed with 
remarkable powers of endurance, physically as well as mentally. In 
one of his political campaigns in Kansas in less than thirty days he 
made nearly seventy speeches, traveling in an open carriage at the 

33V 



SIDNEY CLARKE. 4 

same time above twelve hundred miles, visiting the most remote sea 
tions of the State, and concluding his labors apparently unaffected 
by fatigue. 

Mr. Clarke has devoted himself with great assiduity and sagacity to 
the development of the material interests of his rapidly-growing 
State : more especially to the protection of its people against the 
growth of those land and other monopolies, which in all Western States 
have had to be struggled against. In doing this, however, he has 
wisely and liberally aided all reasonable efforts to promote public and 
private improvements. 



3 3y 



AMASA COBB. 




jj^ MASA COBB was born in Crawford County, Illinois, Sep- 
tember 27, 1823. He was educated in the common 
\h||vjtr schools, and at the age of nineteen went to Wisconsin ter- 
ritory, and worked five years in the lead mines. At the breaking 
out of hostilities with Mexico, he volunteered, and served as a pri- 
vate during the war. Such leisure time as he found during his service, 
he employed in study, and on the return of peace commenced the prac- 
tice of law. He soon attracted public notice, and in 1850 was 
elected a district-attorney and served four years. In 1854 he was 
elected to the Wisconsin State Senate, and in 1855 was adjutant-gen- 
eral of Wisconsin, an office which he held until 185S. He was a 
Representative in the State Legislature in 1860 and 1861, and during 
the last term held the office of Speaker. On the breaking out of the 
civil war he raised the 5th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, and 
went into the service as its colonel. In 1862 he was elected a Rep- 
resentative in the Thirty-eighth Congress, and resigned his com- 
mission. Subsequently, however, during a recess of Congress he 
raised the 43d Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, which he com- 
manded until July, 1865, when he was mustered out. He was 
brevetted for gallant service at Williamsburg, Golden's Farm, and 
Antietam. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and 
Forty-first Congresses. He served on the Committee on Claims, the 
Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, and the Committee on 
Military Affairs. Although a ready and fluent speaker, he did not 
often address the House. His speech on Impeachment was an able 
review of the acts which in his opinion rendered President Johnson 
" worthy of impeachment and removal from office." 

"4 



JOHN COBUKN. 




5 OHN COBURN was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, October 
27, 1825. His father was a native of Massachusetts, who 
settled in Indiana while it was yet a territory. The subject 
of this sketch enjoyed excellent advantages of early education in his 
native city, and subsequently attended Wabash College, where he 
graduated in 1846. He was employed a short time in the office of 
the clerk of the Supreme Court; studied law, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1S50. During this and the following year he was a 
member of the State Legislature. Although one of the youngest 
members, aVid in the Whig minority, he took an active part in legis- 
lation. The Whigs in that Legislature voted in a body against 
resolutions approving the Clay Compromise of 1S50 ; thus early 
showing themselves ready for the great Republican movement, in 
which some of them became leaders four years later. 

In 1856 Mr. Coburn was the Republican candidate for Congress, 
and conducted the canvass with such ability that his competitor, 
unable to answer his arguments, quit the stump soon after they had 
entered upon a series of joint discussions. Mr. Coburn received a 
much larger vote than the Republican candidates who were success- 
ful in the preceding and subsequent elections, but his opponent was 
declared elected, since it was vital to the success of the Buchanan 
presidential ticket in the State in November that the Central Con- 
gressional District should be carried for the Democrats in October. 

In 1853 Mr. Coburn engaged in the defense of Freeman, who, 
though never a slave, had been seized by a pretended owner from 
Kentucky under the Fugitive Slave Law. To find evidence for his 



2 JOHN COBURN. 

client, Mr. Coburn went twice to Kentucky and made two journeys 
into Canada, and by great exertions succeeded in releasing him from 
the grasp of the kidnapper. Sympathy with the slave was at that 
time unpopular in Indiana, and Mr. Coburn lost business by reason 
of his efforts for Freeman. In 1857 he was counsel for the defence 
in another celebrated fugitive slave case. These two important 
cases attracted the attention of the whole country, and had an influ- 
ence in consolidating a majority in Indiana against the slaveholders 
in 1860. 

In 1858 Mr. Coburn was elected judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas. Soon after the election of Mr. Lincoln, when the plans of the 
rebels began to appear, many Republicans in Indiana were ready to 
consent to a peaceful withdrawal of the Southern States, in order to 
prevent loss of property and life. At this juncture a large mass meet- 
ing was addressed by Judge Coburn and Hon. Jonathan W. Gordon, 
who counselled uncompromising adherence to the Union against the 
treason of secession, and thus a sentiment was promoted at the State 
capital which did much to direct Indiana upon the course in which 
the State gained enduring honor in the war. 

Soon after the breaking out of hostilities, Mr. Coburn entered the 
military service, and was commissioned colonel of the 33d Regiment 
of Indiana Volunteers. In September, 1861, he left Indianapolis with 
his command, and marching into Kentucky was immediately in the 
midst of active service. With his regiment he bore the brunt of the 
battle of Wildcat, and did most of the fighting by which Zollicoffer's 
force was repulsed. Officers and men bore themselves with great cool- 
ness and valor, although the} 7 had never before been under fire. Thus 
the first battle of the army of the Cumberland was mainly fought by 
Col. Coburn's regiment, and the first man who fell in defence of the 
Union in Kentucky was private McFadden of his command. 

Col. Coburn was given command of a brigade, participated in the 
movements which resulted in the taking of Cumberland Gap ; took 
part in operations in Tennessee, and finally was taken prisoner, with 
four hundred of his command, at Thompson's Station, on the 5th of 



JOHN COBURN. 3 

March, 1863. Officers and men were treated with the utmost barbar- 
ity while on the way to Richmond, and after their incarceration in 
Libby Prison. " The iron-hearted monsters who had charge of the 
prisons," said Col. Coburn, in his report, " had no regard for suffering 
nor for human life." The prisoners were exchanged at City Point, 
V irginia, May 5, 1863, and were soon again in active service. 

During the spring and summer of 1864, Col. Coburn commanded a 
brigade in the great Atlanta campaign, participating with distin- 
guished honor in the battles at Resacca, New Hope Church, Golgotha 
Church, Gulp's Farm, and Peach Tree Creek. 

On the 2d of September, 1864, the city of Atlanta was surrendered 
to Col. Coburn, who was met in the suburbs by the mayor, with a flag 
of truce. The officer who bore a prominent part in the first battle 
of the army of the Cumberland, had the honor to receive the sur- 
render of the last rebel stronghold in the West. His term of three 
years having expired, and the war in the West being virtually ended, 
he retired from the military service on the 25th of September, 1864. 
In March, 1865, he was appointed and confirmed Secretary of Mon- 
tana Territory, but declined the office. In the following October he 
was elected judge of the 5th Judicial Circuit of Indiana, an office 
which he accepted against his own inclinations, the duties of which, 
however, he performed in a manner highly satisfactory to a bar which 
is among the ablest in the United States. While upon the bench he 
was unanimously nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Congress, and was elected in October, 1866. 

During the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Coburn was a member of the 
Committee on Public Expenditures and the Committee on Banking 
and Currency. At the short session of Congress, in July, 1867, he 
proposed an amendment to the Reconstruction acts, imposing penal- 
ties for offenses against the rights of voters in the late rebel States. 
This, if accepted, might have saved Congress the necessity of incor- 
porating similar provisions in an act to enforce the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment, which was passed so late as 1870. On the 28th of January, 
1868, he addressed the House on the subject of Southern railroads,' 

33 & 



4 JOHN COBURN. 

in which he was the first to advocate in Congress certain necessary 
restrictions upon land grants to railroads. In an able legal and his- 
torical argument on impeachment, he maintained that Mr. Johnson's 
" whole history as President has been marked with usurpations of 
power and violations of rights." In February, 1868, he supported by 
a speech the bill for the redistribution of the currency, and in Janu- 
ary, 1869, he delivered an elaborate and eloquent speech on Finance, 
in which he showed the importance of funding the national debt and 
the folly of attempting to resume specie payment by legislation. 
He also addressed the House in opposition to the bill " to strengthen 
the public credit," in which he maintained that our national credit, 
so far from needing " strengthening" by legislation was "good, and 
growing better every day." 






SCHUYLER COLFAX, 

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT. 




?HE name of Colfax appears in Eevolutionary history. 
General William Colfax, grandfather of the Speaker of the 
S'M& House of Eepresentatives, commanded the life-guards of 
General Washington during the Eevolutionary war. Subse- 
quently to the war he was one of Washington's most intimate 
personal friends. The wife of General Colfax was a cousin 
of General Philip Schuyler. 

Schuyler Colfax, son of General Colfax, and father of the 
Statesman, resided in New York, where he held an office in 
one of the city banks. He died soon after his marriage, and 
before the birth of his son. 

Hon. Schuyler Colfax was born in the city of New York 
March 23, 1823. He attended the common schools of the city 
until he was ten years old. At this early age his school train- 
ing terminated, and he launched into active life to acquire 
learning and make his way as best he could. The boy served 
three years as clerk in a store, and at the end of that time 
removed with his mother and stepfather, Mr. Matthews, to 
Indiana. They could have found no more attractive region in 
all the West than the place they chose for settlement — the 
beautiful region of prairies and groves bordering the Eiver 
"St. Joseph of the Lakes." 

For four years following his removal to the West, the 
youth was employed as a clerk in a village store. At the age 
of seventeen, having been appointed deputy auditor, he re- 
moved to South Bend, the county town which ever since 



I SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

has been his residence He frequently wrote for the local 
newspaper of the town, and attracted attention by the per- 
spicuity and correctness with which he expressed his views. 
During several sessions of the Legislature he was employed 
in reporting its proceedings for the Indianapolis Journal. 

In 1845 Mr. Colfax became proprietor and editor of the 
"St. Joseph Valley Register," the local newspaper of South 
Bend. At the outset he had but two hundred and fifty sub- 
scribers, and at the end of the first year he found himself 
fourteen hundred dollars in debt. Being possessed of tact, 
energy, and ability, he pushed bravely forward in his labo- 
rious profession, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing his 
paper a success. A few years later his newspaper office 
was burned, without insurance, and the editor had to begin 
his fortune again at the foundation. Mr. Colfax applied 
himself with renewed industry to his work, and in a few 
years made the St. Joseph Valley Register the most influ- 
ential paper in that portion of the State. 

Mr. Colfax was, in 1848, a delegate and secretary to 
the Whig National Convention which nominated General Tay- 
lor. Although his district was opposed to his political party, 
his personal popularity was so great that in 1849 he was 
elected a member of the Convention to revise the Consti- 
tution of Indiana. He was soon after offered a nomination 
to the State Senate, which he declined on account of the 
demands of his private business. 

Mr. Colfax received his first nomination as a candidate 
for Congress in 1851, and was beaten by a majority of only 
two hundred votes in a district strongly opposed to him in 
politics. In 1852 he was a delegate to the Whig National 
Convention which nominated General Scott. He declined 
to be a candidate for Congress in the subsequent election, 
which went against his party by a majority of one thousand 
votes. 



SCHUYLER COLFAX. 3 

The succeeding Congress signalized itself by passing the 
Nebraska bill, which wrought a great change in public opinion 
throughout the North. The Representative from Mr. Colfax's 
district voted for this odious act. He came home and took the 
stump as a candidate for re-election. Mr. Colfax was put for- 
ward as his opponent, and the two candidates traversed their 
district together, debating before the same audiences the great 
question which agitated the public mind. The unfortunate 
member strove in vain to justify his vote, and render the 
Nebraska act acceptable to the people. He who had gained 
the previous election by one thousand votes now lost it by 
a majority of two thousand. 

The Thirty-Fourth Congress, to which Mr. Colfax was then 
elected, convened December 3, 1855. At that time occurred 
the memorable contest for the Speakership which lasted two 
months, and resulted in the election of Mr. Banks. At one 
stage in the contest, an adroit attempt to foist Mr. Orr, of 
South Carolina, upon the House as Speaker, was defeated by 
an opportune proposition made by Mr. Colfax, by which the 
question was deferred and the result avoided. 

On the 21st of June, 1856, Mr. Colfax delivered a memorable 
speech on the "Laws" of Kansas, which fell with decided effect 
upon Congress and the country, as a plain and truthful showing 
of the great legislative enormity of the day. During the Presi- 
dential campaign of that year, half a million copies of this 
speech were distributed among the voters of the United States. 

While in Washington, Mr. Colfax was nominated for re- 
election, and, after a laborious canvass, carried his district, 
although the Presidential election went against his party. To 
each succeeding Congress Mr. Colfax has been regularly nomi- 
nated and re-elected. 

In the Thirty-Sixth Congress, Mr. Colfax was Chairman of 
the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads— a position in 
which he did good service for the country, by securing the 

3*3 



4 SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

extension of mail facilities to the newly-settled regions of the far 

West. 

The nomination of Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, was eminently sat- 
isfactory to Mr. Colfax, who entered with great spirit into the canvass, 
and did much to aid in carrying Indiana for the Kepublican party. 
During Mr. Lincoln's entire term, down to the day of his assassina- 
tion he regarded Mr. Colfax as one of his wisest and most faithful 
friends, whom he often consulted on grave matters of public policy. 

At the opening of the Thirty-eighth Congress, December, 1863, 
Mr. Colfax was elected Speaker of the House of Kepresentatives. 
He has since been twice re-elected to this important office, on each 
occasion by a larger majority than before. He has displayed signal 
ability in performing the duties of an office of great difficulty and 
responsibility. His remarkable tact, unvarying good temper, ex- 
haustless patience, cool presence of mind, and familiarity with parlia- 
mentary law, all combine to render him, as a Speaker of the House, 
second to none who have ever occupied its Chair. 

In April, 1865, Mr. Colfax went with a party of friends on a jour- 
ney across the continent, to San Francisco. The evening before his 
departure he called at the White House to take leave of President 
Lincoln. An hour after he grasped his hand with a cheerful and cor- 
dial good-bye, he was startled with the intelligence that the beloved 
President was assassinated. Before leaving for the Pacific, Mr. 
Colfax delivered a eulogy on the murdered President at Chicago, and 
afterward, by invitation, repeated it in Colorado, at Salt Lake City, 
and in California. 

On his way westward, Mr. Colfax spent a few days among the 
Mormons at Salt Lake City, studying their organization with the eye 
of a statesman. " I have had a theory for years past," he said, in 
explaining the motives of his journey, "that it is the duty of men 
in pnblic life, charged with a participation in the government of a 
great country like ours, to know as much as possible of the interests, 
developments, and resources of the country whose destiny, compara- 
tively, has been committed to their hands." Brigham Young, in- 



SCHUYLER COLFAX. 5 

quiring of him what the Government intended to do about the ques- 
tion of polygamy, Mr. Colfax shrewdly replied that he hoped the 
prophet would have a new revelation on that subject, which would 
relieve all embarrassment. 

The reception of Mr. Colfax along his route and on the Pacific 
coast was an ovation which revealed his great popularity. On his 
return, Mr. Colfax, by urgent solicitation, delivered in various cities 
and before vast audiences, an eloquent and instructive lecture de- 
scribing adventures, scenes, and reflections, incident to his journey 
" Across the Continent." The proceeds of the delivery of this lec- 
ture were generally given to the widows and children of soldiers who 
had fallen in the war, and to other objects of benevolence. 

On the 20th of May, 18(58, the National Eepublican Convention 
assembled in Chicago. After unanimously nominating General U. 
S. Grant for President, the Convention nominated Hon. Schuyler 
Colfax for Vice-President, receiving on the first formal ballot a ma- 
jority over all the distinguished gentlemen who had been named as 
candidates. This nomination was made unanimous amid unbounded 
enthusiasm. 

On the day following his nomination, Mr. Colfax received the con- 
gratulations of his friends in Washington, and in the course of a 
brief speech on that occasion, uttered the following noble sentiments : 
" Defying all prejudices, we are for uplifting the lowly, and protect- 
ing the oppressed. History records, to the immortal honor of our or- 
ganization, that it saved the nation and emancipated the race. We 
struck the fetter from the limb of the slave, and lifted millions 
into the glorious sunlight of libert}'. We placed the emancipated 
slave on his feet as a man, and put into his right hand the ballot to< 
protect his manhood and his rights. Wo staked our political exist- 
ence on the reconstruction of tlie revolted States, on the sure and 
eternal corner-stone of loyalty, and we shall triumph." 

No public party ever made more popular nominations. Both can- 
didates added special and peculiar elements of strength to the Ee- 
publican ticket. 

23 

-v. 



6 SCHUYLER COLFAX. 

After one of the most important and exciting political campaigns 
in the history of the country, Mr. Colfax was, on the 3d of No 
vember, elected Vice-President of the United States, receiving, with 
the illustrious candidate for the Presidency, a large majority of both 
the electoral and popular votes. 

Mr. Colfax was first married at the age of twenty-one to an early 
playmate of his childhood. After being for a long time an invalid, 
she died several years ago, leaving him childless. His mother and 
sister have since presided at his receptions, which, if not the most 
brilliant, have been the most popular of any given at the Capital. 
On the 18th of November, a fortnight after his election to the Vice- 
Presidency, Mr. Colfax was married to Miss Ella M. "Wade, of An- 
•dover, Ohio. She is a niece of Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and is a 
lady whose virtues and accomplishments fit her to cheer the private 
life, and grace the public career of her distinguished husband. 

Mr. Colfax is of medium stature and compact frame, with a fair 
complexion, a mild, blue eye, and a large mouth, upon which a smile 
habitually plays. He has a melodious voice, a rapid utterance, and 
smooth and graceful elocution. Consistent in politics, agreeable in 
manners, and pure in morals, he has all the elements of lasting pop- 
ularity. 










/(JCtsirfvTs &?, q?#7r7& 






BURTON O. COOK 



&Jjj|URTON C. COOK was born in Monroe County, New York, 
May 11, 1819. He was educated at the Collegiate Institute 
in the city of Rochester ; and in 1835 he removed to the 
State of Illinois. Here he entered upon the practice of law, and 
soon acquired a large and valuable business ; being highly esteemed 
also, wherever known, for his sterling honesty and integrity. 

From 1846 to 1852 Mr. Cook held the office of State's Attorney 
for the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Illinois. In the latter year he was 
elected to the State Senate, of which body, during the eight suc- 
ceeding years, he was an active and efficient member. He early be- 
came identified with the great anti-slavery movement of the country, 
delivering heavy blows against the institution of slavery, until he 
was permitted to rejoice in its overthrow. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise had the influence to drive 
from the Democratic party in Illinois such men as Mr. Cook, Mr. 
Judd, and Governor Palmer ; and on that issue they, being at that 
time in the State Senate, nominated Mr. Trumbull for the Senate of 
the United States ; and with the aid of the Whigs, under the lead- 
ership of Abraham Lincoln, he was elected ; and thus was com- 
menced the Republican party in Illinois. 

Mr. Cook was one of the representatives of the State of Illinois in 
the Peace Conference which met in Washington, in February, 1S61, 
in which he earnestly opposed the proposition that slavery should 
either be recognized or protected in the Territories of the United 
States by the National Government, and, in connection with Gov- 
ernor Wood, of Illinois, entered his protest on the journal of the Con- 



2 BURTON C. COOK. 

ference against the vote of his State as cast by a majority of its del- 
egates in favor of the resolutions adopted by the Convention. 

Mr. Cook was in 1864 elected a Representative from Illinois to 
the Thirty-ninth Congress, during which he was a member of the 
Judiciary Committee, and the author of the statute passed by that 
Congress to protect the officers and soldiers of the army from suits 
brought to recover damages for acts done in pursuance of military 
authority during the war, and other measures of national impor- 
tance. 

Having been returned to the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Cook was a 
member of the Committee on Elections, and chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Roads and Canals. From the latter Committee he re- 
ported a bill authorizing the building of a military and postal rail- 
way from Washington to the city of New York. He supported this 
bill by an elaborate speech, made February 3 and 4, 1869, in which 
he maintained that the power to charter the proposed line of railroad 
was derived from the Constitutional provision that " Congress shall 
have power to regulate commerce among the several States." He 
showed that the power to regulate commerce among the States was 
not limited to any particular branch, nor restricted to any specified 
instruments of commerce, and that the power to widen and deepen 
rivers implied the power to build railroads. From the Committee 
on Elections, Mr. Cook made several reports in contested cases. 
His report relating to Beck and other representatives-elect from 
Kentucky, is important as laying down certain general principles 
which should govern the action of the House in cases where disloy- 
alty is alleged as a disqualification for membership in Congress. 






SIMEON COELEY- 



■ SIMEON CORLEY was born in Lexington County, South 
Carolina, February 10, 1823. He received the rudiments 
of an English education in the Lexington Academy, which 
he attended from 1830 to 1834, and then was apprenticed to learn 
the tailor's trade. He began business on his own account in 1838, 
and did not entirely give it up, even after his entrance upon public 
life. He manifested no little inventive skill in his trade, and be- 
came the inventor of a new system of garment cutting. He opposed 
an attempted secession of South Carolina in 1S52, for which an at- 
tempt was made to expel him from the State as an abolitionist. He 
edited the South Carolina " Temperance Standard " in 1855 and 1856, 
and during the same years held the office of grand scribe of the Sons 
of Temperance of the State. He took his stand in hopeless opposi- 
tion to secession in 1860, but was finally compelled to enter the rebel 
army, and was captured by the national troops at Petersburg, Vir- 
ginia, April 2, 1865, when he gladly took the oath of allegiance, and 
returned home. He advocated the reconstruction policy of Congress, 
and was elected to the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina 
on the Republican ticket by a large majority. He was elected a 
Representative to the Fortieth Congress from South Carolina, as a 
Republican. Having had his disabilities removed by act of Con- 
gress, Mr. Corley was admitted to his seat July 25, 1868. In one of 
his speeches in Congress he describes himself as "one whose humble 
avocation had placed him beneath the social plane of the aristocratic 
oligarchy of the South, and whose aspirations and natural bent raised 
him above the narrow circle to which that aristocracy had assigned 
him ; whose standpoint was reached by the furious lashings of the 
storm which rocked the ship of State on the surging sea of rebellion 
whose waves have borne him thus far out on the turbulent ocean of 
politics." 



THOMAS COEj^ELL. 



^TROM a careful investigation of public and private records, 




recently made by Hon. Ezra Cornell, it appears that the 
numerous families that bear the name of Cornell have de- 
scended from different parental stocks which emigrated from Europe 
in the early part of the seventeenth century. 

The subject of this sketch is descended from that particular family 
to which, in July, 1646, Mr. Wm. Kieft, then " Director General and 
Council for the Prince of Orange," delivered a grant of land in West- 
chester County, at a point on the East River afterwards known as 
" Cornell's Neck." 

Thomas Cornell was born at White Plains, Westchester County, 
New York, January 23, 1814. Having enjoyed the limited advantage 
of a common school-education, he was first employed as a clerk in the 
city of New York. In 1843 he removed to Ulster County, where, 
with a very small capital, he began on his own account the forward- 
ing business between Eddyville and New York. Six years later he 
engaged in the new and growing traffic which followed the comple- 
tion of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, a traffic which under his 
skillful management made rapid progress, till at length it has attained 
the mammoth proportions which we witness to-day. 

With the sudden increase in the products of labor which naturally 
sought a market in the metropolis, there arose the necessity of increas- 
ed facilities for the transportation of freight and passengers on the 
waters of the Hudson, and to this latter work, in 1S48, Mr. Cornell 
began to devote his energies. Tn this enterprise his untiring indus- 
try and careful business management have for twenty years been at- 





^r. // , ,, c*-<t 



( /■ , < ' &^/{ 




THOMAS CORNELL. 2 

tended with uniform and signal success, so that he is to-day the sole 
proprietor of twenty-three steamboats, some of them first-class in size, 
cost, and speed, and constituting one of the largest and most valuable 
steam fleets in the country. 

It is but natural that the capacity, energy, and industry which at- 
tained such results, should have opened up to them still other depart- 
ments of successful enterprise. Hence we find Mr. Cornell becoming 
in turn the founder and president of the First National Bank of 
Kondout, of the Rondout Savings Bank, the originator and presi- 
dent of the Kondout and Oswego Eailroad, now in process of con- 
struction, and also of the Horse Railroad which connects Rondout 
with Kingston, all of which positions he still holds. He seems gifted 
with that rare and peculiar adaptation to business which almost in- 
stantly and instinctively discovers the elements of success or failure 
in every business transaction, with that self-reliance and energy which 
prompt him to go forward directly and confidently to the object be- 
fore him, and with that keen, penetrating, and comprehensive knowl- 
edge of human nature which is so essential in the choice of men to 
carry out his plans. 

As a citizen he is noted for his continued efforts to secure the gen- 
eral good of the community in which he resides. He is always ready 
to aid in any measures which tend to augment its wealth or add to 
its attractiveness. His gifts for the building of houses of worship 
and the support of the Gospel among the various denominations, are 
frequent and liberal. 

Though never a politician, either by choice or inclination, Mr. Cor- 
nell has always been known for his zealous and faithful adherence to 
the principles of the Republican party. Upon the leading questions 
of political economy, he has thought deeply, and clearly compre- 
hends the fundamental principles upon which our Republic rests, as 
well as the elements which are best fitted to secure the stability and 
permanence of its institutions ; while his appreciation of the bless- 
ings which flow from a well-ordered government is ardent and strong. 
A man of the people, he is in the closest sympathy with them, irre- 



3 THOMAS CORNELL. 

spective of nationality, creed, or complexion. His friends, therefore, 
have long regarded him as endowed in a peculiar manner with the 
more solid and sterling qualities of the efficient legislator, but not 
till recently have they been able to prevail upon him to accept any 
public trust at their hands. His consent, when finally obtained, was 
given with the utmost reluctance and at great personal sacrifice. 
In his district, which has been uniformly and largely Democratic, he 
was elected to the Fortieth Congress by a handsome majority. Ilia 
public service has more than met the expectation of his friends. He 
has discharged the duties of member of the Committee on Educa- 
tion and also of that on Roads and Canals ; his faithful and efficient 
guardianship of the interests of his constituents securing for him 
the increased confidence and esteem of both parties. 

The source of Mr. Cornell's great popularity is to be found, not, as 
is too often the case, in the shrewd and skillful maneuvers of the 
mere politician, but rather in the general public conviction of the pu- 
rity of his moral and Christian character, his superior business quali- 
fications, his great tact in the selection of right men and measures, 
his stern devotion to the principles of truth and justice, and possibly 
more than all, in his unbounded liberality. This last is of all others 
his predominant characteristic. Upon needy and meritorious public 
institutions his gift- have been bestowed, tens of thousands of dol- 
lars at a time, and in such rapid succession as to astonish even his 
most intimate friends. These free-will offerings, in many instances 
unsolicited, so far from being restricted to his own individual rela" 
tionships <»]• preferences, have been extended to the widest range of 
Christian and philanthropic benevolence. In giving, however, as 
in everything else, he is never reckless or indiscriminate, but shrewd 
and well advised, always taking into account the worthiness of the 
object, and the am. Mint of good which is likely to be attained. His 
princely liberality was particularly manifest during the recent Re- 
bellion, as well in raising and sending men to the field, as in pro- 
viding for the maintenance of their families during their absence. 
Many a soldier's taxes were paid while he was serving his country, 



THOMAS CORNELL. 4. 

and many a soldier's widow and children were relieved by his ready 
hands. 

Mr. Cornell's method of thinking is peculiar to himself. He gen- 
eralizes with great rapidity, often deciding upon the merits of the 
most intricate proposition the instant it is fairly stated, but never 
without taking into account its minutest details. Hence the prompt- 
ness and punctuality with which he dispatches business, and the num- 
ber and magnitude of his business transactions. He is emphatically 
a man of deeds, not words ; yet when the occasion requires, he speaks 
with much effectiveness, is self-possessed, and has a ready command 
of language. There is, moreover, a subdued earnestness in his man- 
ner, and a pathos in the tones of his voice, which never fail to at- 
tract attention and produce a favorable impression. In manners 
he is quiet, modest, and even retiring, never obtruding his opinion 
where it is not desired, but easy, graceful, and attractive in conver- 
sation. In his external demeanor there is not, to the ordinary ob- 
server, the slightest indication of his high position or great success; 
and yet in many respects, Thomas Cornell is one of the most re- 
markable men in the Fortieth Congress. 






JOECS" COYODE. 



-/■"HfORE than a hundred and thirty years ago a child was 
stolen in Amsterdam by a sea-captain, who gave him the 
ffc k yc / name of Garrett Covode. The boy was brought to Phil- 
adelphia and sold into bondage, in which he continued till twenty- 
eight years old. At this age he was unable to read a word. He 
afterwards attended General Washington in the capacity of a servant, 
and died in 1826, at the advanced age of ninety-four. 

His grandson, John Covode, was born in Westmoreland County, 
Pennsylvania, March 17, 1808. The mother of John Covode was 
of Quaker descent, her ancestors being among those early pioneers 
who came over with William Penn ; two of whom, and a third by 
the name of Wood, wrote the protest against Penn's decision in favor 
of human bondage, which was said to have been the first anti-slavery 
document written on this continent. 

John Covode's opportunities for early education were limited. He 
was brought up (Hi a farm, and afterward learned the trade of 
woollen manufacturing, which business he has now conducted for 
about forty years. At the same time, he was a man too energetic 
and progressive to devote all his attention to a woollen mill. When 
the State canal was building, he was one of the first to give it en- 
couragement. After its completion lie engaged in the transportation 
business, and commanded the first section boat that went over it from 
Philadelphia to the Ohio. When the Pennsylvania Railroad was 
contemplated, he gave to that great enterprise his time, his intluence, 
and his means, lie was in partnership with the company in the 
transportation business, until the completion of their road through to 
Pittsburg. He then organized the Westmoreland Coal Company, 
and commenced shipping gas coal to the Eastern markets. Of this 









&-7s-tS^^ 



JOHN COVODE. 2 

company he was President until his duties in Congress compelled 
him to resign, and this enterprise, which he organized, and which he 
managed for several years, is, like most of his undertakings, a com- 
plete success. 

Mr. Covode was first a candidate for office in 1845, when he was 
the Whig nominee for the State Senate in a district strongly Demo- 
cratic. At his second nomination he came within so few votes of 
being elected, that the opposing party became alarmed at his grow- 
ing popularity and changed the district. He was then taken up and 
elected by his party to the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, 
and Thirtj'-seventh Congresses, during which time he was Chairman 
of the celebrated Investigating Committee, which did so much to 
show up and bring to light the enormous frauds and corrupt prac- 
tices of certain parties at that time associated with the Government. 
On the breaking out of the rebellion Mr. Covode was one of the 
first to urge bold, decisive measures. He sent three sons into the army, 
the youngest of whom was only fifteen years old. They joined the 
Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry, one of the most gallant and meritori- 
ous regiments in the service. His eldest son, George Covode, became 
Colonel of the regiment, and was killed while gallantly leading his 
regiment at St. Mary's Church, near Richmond. The youngest suf- 
fered the miseries and torments ot Andersonville for a year and a 
half, from the effects of which he will never recover. The second 
son returned at -the expiration of his term of enlistment. 

In Congress Mr. Covode was placed upon the Joint Committee on 
the conduct of the war. After the close of the war he was sent South 
by the President, to aid the Government in working out its Recon- 
struction policy. His views, however, failing to harmonize with 
those of Mr. Johnson, he declined any further connection with his 
administration. 

For the Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses Mr. Covode was 
not a candidate, and his district was carried by the Democrats. At 
the earnest solicitation of the Republican party he consented to be 
nominated for the Fortieth Congress, and was elected by a majority 
of three hundred votes. 

Isir 



SHELBY M. CULLOM. 




IIELBY M. CULLOM was born in Wayne County, Ken- 
tucky, November 22, 1829. His father moved from Ken- 

Ut^ tucky with his family when the subject of this sketch was 
scarcely a year old, and settled in Tazewell County, Illinois, where 
he now resides. 

Young Cullom remained with his lather until nineteen years of 
age, working upon the farm in summer, and attending a neighboring 
school in the winter. He, however, taught school about ten months 
of the time above named. At the age of nineteen, he left home and 
entered school at Mt. Morris University, but was obliged to leave at 
the close of the second year, on account of his health. 

Having returned home, lie remained there until his health was re- 
stored, when he entered the office of Messrs. Stewart & Edwards, 
at Springfield, 111., and commenced the study of law. He was in 
a short time admitted to practice, ami was immediately elected City 
Attorney, which office he held during one year. 

The presidential campaign of 1856 then came on, and Mr. Cullom 
was placed upon the electoral ticket tor Fillmore. He was also nom- 
inated for the State legislature by the Fillmore and Fremont parties 
uniting together, and was elected. At the meeting of the legislature, 
he was voted for by the Fillmore men for Speaker of the House. In 
1860 he was again elected to the legislature from Sangamon County, 
and this time was chosen Speaker. 

In 1862, Mr. Cullom was appointed by President Lincoln on a 
commission with Gov. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, ami Charles A. 
Dana— afterward Assistant Secretary of War -to proceed to Cairo, 

3 



SHELBY M. CULLOM. 2 

Illinois, for the purpose of examining into the accounts and transac- 
tions of quartermasters and commissary officers, and pass upon 
claims allowed by them against the Government. He was afterward 
a candidate for the State Senate, and for a seat in the Constitutional 
Convention, in a Democratic District, and was defeated. 

In 1864, Mr. Cullom was nominated by the Union party of his 
District for Congress ; and although the District, at the last previous 
election, had been Democratic by about fifteen hundred majority, yet 
he was elected by a majority of seventeen hundred — thus defeating 
the Hon. John T. Stewart, with whom he had read law. 

The first speech made by Mr. Cullom in Congress, was in answer 
to Mr. Harding, of Kentucky ; who had made a bitter speech against 
the Union party of the country, and among other things, had said 
that " it was time a little posting was done." We give here an ex- 
tract or two from Mr. Cullom's response : 

" But, sir, as the gentleman proclaimed to this House and the 
country that it was time a little posting was done, I thought with 
him ; and let me tell the gentleman and his political friends that the 
great Union party which has stood by the nation's flag and borne it 
aloft amid the fierce storm of war, is always willing that the books 
should be posted ; and the great measures of the party, for the sup- 
port of which they have received the unmeasured abuse of traitors 
and their sympathizers, held up to the inspection of the patriotic 
millions of this land. 

"We are not the men, sir, to shun such an examination. The party 
which has shaped the policy of this nation since the election to the 
Presidency of the great martyr to the cause of liberty, and which 
has never turned its back upon the Government in its contest with 
treason and rebellion, and which has procured the recognition of the 
great principles of freedom throughout the land, has no cause for 
alarm when it is proposed to spread before the world its political 
record. 

"Sir, we are willing that the items of the account shall be called 
over, the long columns added together, a balance-sheet Btrnck, so that 






3 SHELBY M. CULLOM. 

the people may see at a glance how the matter stands. And may I 
call upon the loyal people to hold to strict accountability the party 
who is the debtor, as appears from a posting since the beginning of 
the accursed rebellion." 

At the close of this speech, after posting the books and discussing 
Reconstruction at some length, Mr. Cullom said : 

" I do not desire to deal harshly with these States or any fallen en- 
emy. Rather would I turn from the scenes of rebellion and barbarity 
which have been enacted by those engaged in the attempt to over- 
throw the Republic, and look upon a brighter, better scene, as we 
commence the great work of rebuilding upon the scattered ruins ot 
those once prosperous States. I shall not be guided in my action as 
a legislator by malice or revenge. But, sir, I cannot forget the thou- 
sands of brave and gallant men who laid down their lives in the ter- 
rible struggle that the nation might live. I cannot forget that four 
long years were required to crush out the causeless, wicked rebellion 
against the best Government in the world. 

" Sir, I cannot forget that night in April last when that great man, 
so fitly styled the saviour of his country, was murdered by a fiend 
pushed on by the maddened exasperation of a dying rebellion. 

" Sir, I perhaps feel as keenly the result of that last tragic act as any 
man upon this floor. Abraham Lincoln, a martyr for the cause of 
liberty and patriotism, murdered by traitors, now sleeps in the bosom 
of my own State and city ; the patriotic sons of the Prairie State will 
closely guard his honored remains. And as we proceed in the per- 
formance of our responsible duties, let us stand by that old maxim, 
'Let justice be done though the heavens shall fall.'" 

Mr. Cullom was renominated by the Union party of his District, 
in 18GG, and was elected by more than double his first majority. In 
the doings and deliberations of the Fortieth Congress, to which he 
was tli us elected, Mr. Cullom took an active part. 

On one occasion, in participating in a discussion on a measure foi 
the protection of American citizens abroad, Mr. Cullom said : 

" To-day there are about two million people in our country from 



SHELBY M. CULLOM. 4 

the German States, and about the same number from Ireland, that 
land of persecution. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, 
there were three hundred and thirty thousand seven hundred and five 
emigrants came to this country ; and during the last fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1867, there were three hundred and ten thousand one hun- 
dred and fourteen. Sir, they are coming— they are coming with 
brave hearts and stout hands ; they are coming with souls panting for 
liberty ; they are coming as it were with the eye of faith fixed and 
gazing upon the tree of liberty planted in American soil, enriched 
with patriots 1 blood ; and as they come, full of hope and courage, they 
expect soon to gather beneath its protecting branches, and enjoy the 
blessings of a free Government. Shall this nation, as in days past, 
still say, Come ? Shall our consuls and emigrant agents abroad still 
continue to point out to those oppressed millions the advantages and 
glories of this country, its lands, its institutions, its Government? 
Shall we continue our naturalization laws upon our statute-books? 
Shall we invite men — honest men — to take an oath to support the 
Constitution of the United States, and renounce all allegiance to the 
sovereign over the land of their nativity ? Sir, the answer to these 
questions depends upon the action of the Government in protecting 
or failing to protect its people. 

" Our duty is plain, sir. It is to declare the position of the American 
Government, and see that the Government stands by and maintains 
that position, in the protection of the rights of naturalized citizens 
whom we have invited to our shores, and who have sworn allegiance 
to our country. 

" Mr. Speaker, one of the chief glories of a nation is in its disposition 
and courage to protect the rights of its people ; and the nation that 
will not strive at least to do that deserves to be blotted from the face 
of the earth. I do not fear, sir, either a lack of disposition, courage, 
or ability to do justice to all our citizens in the present struggle. All 
that is needed is that the American nation shall demand the right, 
and it will be yielded." 

3« 



HENRY L. DAWES. 




*ENRY L. DAWES was born October 30, 1816, at Cum- 
mington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, among the 
Berkshire Hills, whose inhabitants and interests he has 
represented in Congress for more than thirteen years. He is of the 
English yeomanry stock, and the founder of the Massachusetts family ; 
was among the early colonists, settling at Abington, in the eastern 
portion, whence the parents of Mr. Dawes removed to Cummington, 
afterwards settling on a small farm in North Adams. Several 
uncles served in the Continental army throughout the War for Inde- 
pendence, though his father was too young for such duty. 

It was amid these associations and surroundings that Mr. Dawes 
was reared, attending school in the winter, and working hard, as 
soon as able, on the hill-side farm. At the age of twenty-three he 
graduated at Yale College, having, when he entered, about forty dol- 
lars with which tomeet his necessary expenses. When vacation came 
he travelled a-foot to the homestead at North Adams, and in the 
same primitive manner returned to his Alma Mater, teaching school 
and working on the farm during vacations in order to obtain means 
sufficient to carry him through the collegiate course. 

Leaving Yale, he was soon after admitted to the bar, and devoted 
himself generally to the practice of his profession, diversifying the 
struggle with teaching school at intervals and for several years edit- 
ing the " Greenfield Gazette." The young lawyer and editor took 
his position with the Whig party, and did it good service by voice 
and pen. In 1818 he was elected a Representative in the State 
Legislature, and again in 1819 and 1852, serving one term as State 



HENRY L. DAWES. 2 

Senator. During this legislative service he was more or less closely 
identified with the Free Soil movement, being always recognized as 
possessed of decided anti-slavery convictions, though, by temperament, 
moderate in methods and cautious in policy. In 1853 he was elected 
to and served in the State Constitutional Convention, and from that 
time until 1857 he was State district-attorney. The Know-nothing 
movement had control of Massachusetts for a season, but during its 
whole career it was steadily opposed by Mr. Dawes. He was the 
only anti-Know-nothing member of the Massachusetts delegation 
when his Congressional career began in 1857. He entered Congress 
at the beginning of the fierce and turbulent Lecompton struggle, and 
was a useful ally to the party resisting that iniquity. In the Thirty- 
sixth Congress he was placed on the Committee on Elections, of 
which he was made chairman in the Thirty-seventh Congress, con- 
tinuing to serve thereon until the close of the Fortieth Congress. . 

In 1S60 he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for Gover- 
nor, receiving a handsome vote in the convention that nominated 
John A. Andrew. In the winter of 1861-62 he was a member of 
the famous Van Wyck Investigating Committee, which was charged 
with an inquiry into government contracts. Mr. Dawes was active 
in the investigation, preparation of the report, and in support of it 
on the floor, proving himself a valuable ally or formidable opponent, 
as the need required. 

Throughout the war Mr. Dawes was an able and faithful supporter 
of the administration, always voting or speaking in behalf of all 
necessary measures for the suppression of rebellion and maintenance 
of the Union. Outside of Congress he was an active and efficient 
stump speaker, always in demand and popular, both from his thorough 
acquaintance with political affairs, men and measures, and his clear, 
logical and attractive mode of statement and argument. His ardu- 
ous labors on the Committee on Elections though important, were 
not calculated to attract as much attention as some other labors 
more closely connected with the stirring events of the time. Mr. 
Dawes was a consistent friend of emancipation, and his votes may 

24 



3 HENRY L. DAWES. 

always be found recorded on that side. During the reconstruction 
period, Mr. Dawes, though at times indicating views of a more mod- 
erate character than was generally entertained by the majority in 
the House, recorded his votes on those grave issues with the great 
body of the party of which he is so useful a member. 

During the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Dawes was prominently men- 
tioned for the Speakership of the Forty-first Congress, but as Mr. 
Blaine's candidacy made it impossible to unite New England delega- 
tions, Mr. Dawes retired gracefully and with honors. He was ap- 
pointed chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, to which 
important duty he brings the conscientious industry and the care- 
ful, painstaking attention which are marked characteristics of his 
public life and labors. It evinces the high esteem in which the abili- 
ties of Mr. Dawes are held at home, that he was offered by Governor 
Claflin a position on the Supreme Bench of Massachusetts. He de- 
clined the honor, preferring legislative to judicial labors. 

In a paper read before the American Social Science Association, 
held in New York, October 26, 1869, Mr. Dawes discussed " the 
mode of procedure in cases of contested elections." His long 
experience as a member and chairman of the Committee on Elections, 
extending through ten years, enabled him to produce a most valuable 
paper, which illustrates the strongly non-partisan bias of his mind as 
well as the vigorous simplicity of his style and the compactness of 
his statements. 

Mr. Dawes first calls attention to the fact that by the constitution 
both Houses were made the sole and only "judge of the elections, 
returns, and qualifications of its own members." With regard to 
this absolute power he says: 

" This is a most remarkable power, and has no analogy ; not re 
markable in that it is supreme, for in every constitutional govern- 
ment there is a tribunal of last resort existing somewhere, and of 
course supreme over the subject-matter or the person falling within 
its jurisdiction. But in all such tribunals, not only the jurisdiction 
but the constituent parts of the body itself are defined and fixed by 



HENRY L. DAWES. 4 

a law outside of, and superior to the tribunal itself. It does not pass 
upon its own commission. Yet, in a contested election in Congress, 
the subject-matter and the person falling within the supreme juris- 
diction of each House are the constituents of its own body. Of 
whom the body shall consist, the body itself has absolute power to 
determine. And the power to determine of whom either House shall 
consist, includes that of determining the political character of that 
House and the fate of measures and administrations, and, it may be, 
of the Government itself. The grave character of this power thus 
becomes apparent the moment it is comprehended." 

Since his occupation of the chairmanship of the Committee on 
Appropriations, a position accorded him by usage as the oldest con- 
tinuous member, as well as by his recognized capacity for the impor- 
tant work needed, Mr. Dawes has made a strong record in favor of 
the utmost economy and retrenchment, making in the House, Janu- 
ary 18, 1870, a vigorous speech which at the time and since created 
a o-reat deal of discussion and criticism. The occasion was on a bill 
transferring the Philadelphia navy yard to League Island, which 
Mr. Dawes opposed as involving uncalled for expenditure. 

Mr. Dawes is possessed of much more than ordinary literary cul- 
ture and those who know him best are often surprised at the extent 
and quality of the reading for which, busy man of affairs as he is and 
has so long been, he still finds time. As a speaker Mr. Dawes is 
easy, fluent, clear and cogent, always talking extemporaneously, and 
in the colloquial debates which arise on the floor of the House he is 
one of the most formidable of foes aud most valuable of friends, apt 
at retort, and gifted with a keen and often powerful sarcasm, which 
lends point to his arguments and sting to his words. As a lawyer 
Mr. Dawes possesses an excellent reputation, and has a good prac- 
tice which might be much larger and more lucrative but for his atten- 
tion to public duties. 






COLUMBUS DELANO. 



.JOLUMBUS DELANO was born at Shoreham, Vermont, in 
. -^P the year 1809. At eight years of age he removed to Ohio, 
nwA in the care of immediate relatives, who settled in the county 
of Knox. His boyhood was passed in the lighter avocations of the 
farm, joined with persistent devotion to study. He pursued his ele- 
mentary education at such schools as were then available, learning 
the Latin language with but little aid from classical teachers. His 
historical reading at the age of eighteen was extensive. With a se- 
rionsness becoming his disposition, rather than his years, he began 
thus early to consider how he should make his way in the world, and 
what pathway was to lead him out of obscurity to a useful position 
in life. Without the aid of influential friends, but cheered with the 
encouraging words of those who knew and loved him, he determined 
to undertake the study of law. 

In 1829 he entered the office of Hosmer Curtis, Esq., then a noted 
special pleader, practicing at Mount Yernon, Ohio. ' After three 
years of preparation lie was admitted to the bar, in 1S32, and com- 
mr. ced practice at Mount Vernon at the age of twenty-two. 

though no display of talent had been exhibited to justify the ex- 
pectation that he would triumph suddenly over the formidable obsta- 
cles in the way of the young attorney, his success was immediate. 
He had the good fortune to be emplo3 7 ed as junior counsel in a 
local suit, involving important legal questions and considerable estate. 
Having been left by an accident to the sole management of the ease, 
he was triumphantly successful, and thus gained a reputation, the 
immediate effect of which was his election as prosecuting-attorney 
in a county adverse to his politics. After three years' service he wa- 
re-elected, but immediately resigned the trust, which interfered with 

3^V 




-^SsrJs 










COLUMBUS DELANO. 2 

liis general practice. His constant attention upon the courts for a 
period of ten years, his uniform success as an advocate, his thorough- 
ness and integrity as a lawyer, met with ample reward. 

In politics he has ever been opposed to Slavery and the Demo 
cratic policy. Seeking no office while pursuing his profession, lie 
was still the occasional exponent of the Whig party in local contests. 
Surrounded by a cordon of Democratic counties, there seemed to he 
little hope for his popular preferment. But being unanimously 
nominated for Congress by the Whigs of his district, in 1844, he was 
elected by a majority of twelve over his Democratic competitor, 
Hon. Caleb J. McNulty, a gentleman of extensive popularity, re- 
sources and power. The Democratic candidate for Governor received 
600 majority in the same district, at the same election. On the 1st 
of December, 1845, Mr. Delano took his seat in the Twenty-ninth 
Congress, serving on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. This was 
an epoch in Congressional history. Contemporaneous with Mr. Polk's 
administration, it comprised men of great experience and ability. 
The measures of war and conquest, of Oregon and Mexico, were the 
vexed questions of that day, the evil shadows of which lengthened 
into the future. On the Oregon question, Mr. Delano advocated 
the claims for the largest measure of territory against the settlement 
which eventually prevailed. On the 11th of May, 1S46, he voted 
with John Quincy Adams, and twelve others, against the declaration 
that " war existed by the act of Mexico," defending his votes and 
the action of his associates by a speech in the House. Put forward 
as a leader of the fourteen who voted against the false declaration, 
he fully answered their expectations, but without the politician's cir- 
cumspection as to the future. The speech made great contention, 
and was regarded of so much significance that Mr. Douglas, of Illi 
nois, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, Mr. Chipman, of Missouri, and Mr. 
Tibbatt's, of Kentucky, gave themselves serious concern to answer it. 

His district having been changed by special legislation, Jbe was not 
a candidate for re-election, but retired to close up his business in the 
courts. His name was brought before the Whig convention of 
Ohio on the 22d of February, 1848, for nomination as a candidate for 



3 COLUMBUS DELANO. 

Governor; and though he had voted in Congress to reinforce the 
army, and to supply the army, the vote against the declaration con- 
tributed to place him in opposition to the war, and he was conse- 
quently defeated by two votes. Retiring from his profession, he re- 
moved to the city of New York, as principal of the banking firm of 
Delano, Dunlevy & Co., with a branch at Cincinnati, Ohio. After 
four years he withdrew from a successful business, in 1856, returning 
t«> his home in Ohio, to engage in agriculture. He was a delegate to 
the Chicago Convention of 1860, and supported Mr. Lincoln for the 
nomination. In 1861 he was appointed Commissary-General of 
Ohio, and administered that department with marked success until 
the General Government assumed the subsistence of all volunteers. 
The following year the Republican caucus of the Ohio Legislature 
brought his name forward for the United States Senate, and he 
again lacked but two votes of a nomination. 

In 1863 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving as 
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa- 
tives. In 1861 he was a member of the National Republican Con- 
vention at Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in 
that body. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress in that 
year, and served as Chairman of the Committee of Claims of the 
House of Representatives. As an evidence of the integrity of his 
character, and the confidence reposed in him by the House, it is suffi- 
cient to state that every bill reported by him was passed into a law. 
He was reelected to the Fortieth Congress, serving as a member of 
the Committee of Foreign Affairs. 

Immediately upon the close of his Congressional term, he was 
nominated by President Grant, and unanimously confirmed by the 
Senate, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the most im- 
portant and responsible offices in the Government. 






CHARLES DENISON. 




IhARLES DENISON was born in Wyoming Valley, Penn- 
gj sylvania, January 23, 1818. The family of which he came 
*&£ is one of distinction in the Wyoming Valley. His grand- 
father was one of the victims of the massacre of Wyoming. His 
uncle, Hon. George Denison, was prominent in the politics of Penn- 
sylvania, and a Representative in Congress from 1819 to 1823. 
The subject of this sketch graduated at Dickinson College in 1838, 
and adopted the profession of law, which he continuously and suc- 
cessfully practised until his election to the Thirty-eighth Congress in 
1862. He was in 1864 again elected a Representative to Congress 
from the Twelfth District of Pennsylvania, embracing the counties 
of Luzerne and Susquehanna. He was re-elected to the Fortieth 
Congress, but was in his seat only a few days, when he was pros- 
trated by pulmonary disease which had been long preying upon him, 
and died at his home in Wilkesbarre, June 27, 1867. On the occa- 
sion of announcing his death to the House of Representatives, July 
10, his colleague Mr. Boyer said: "He was a man of sound judg- 
ment, patriotic impulses, and inflexible purpose ; modest and with- 
out ostentation, but full of courage and determination to meet the 
requirements of every occasion. No possible temptations of personal 
advantage could swerve him from his convictions of public duty ; 
and he would make no compromise, even indirectly, which had the 
lealt appearance of a surrender of principle. Correct in business 
affairs, kind, steadfast, and true in his domestic and social relations, 
his private, like his public life, was above reproach. Death to him 
was neither unexpected nor terrible." Describing his last interview 
with his dying colleague, Mr. Boyer said : " He spoke like one whose 
peace was made with God, and whose conscience was void of offence 
toward man." 



JOHI^ T. DEWEESE. 




5 OHN T. DEWEESE was born June 4, 1835, in Crawford 
County, Arkansas, of French parentage on the father's side, 
and German on the mother's side. In 1841, soon after the 
death of his father, he removed with his mother to Rome, Perry 
County, Indiana. Having received a good English education, he 
commenced the study of law in the office of Judge Smith. After a 
year thus occupied, his money being exhausted, he went as clerk on a 
steamboat running between Cincinnati and the Arkansas River. At 
the age of eighteen he left the river, returned to Indiana, and spent 
three years in the employments of studying law and teaching school. 

Arriving at his majority in 1856, he took part in the political 
campaign of that year, supporting General Fremont for the Presi- 
dency. He subsequently went back to the 'river as captain of a 
steamboat plying between Memphis, Tennessee, and Jacksonsport, 
Arkansas. He held this position a }'ear, when political excitement 
running high in the South, he sold out most of his Southern property, 
and went to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he resumed the study of law. 
In 1850 he commenced the practice of law as one of the firm of Allen, 
Usher & Deweese. In the following year he took an active part in 
the Presidential campaign in favor of Lincoln. 

On the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered the army as a 
private soldier, and in July, 1860, he was commissioned a second 
lieutenant in the 71th Indiana Infantry. After the taking of Fort 
Donelson, receiving an order to raise a company of cavalry, he 
resigned his commission. Having raised a company, in which he 
took his place as a private when mustered into service, he was, by an 
unanimous vote, elected captain. After having seen service with 
General Buell in the disastrous campaign which ended in his retreat 

34& 




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JOHN T. DE WEE SE. 2 

from Nashville into Kentucky in the fall of 1862, he was in the ensu- 
ing January promoted to the rank of major, and a few months after 
was made successively lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He was in all 
the battles of the army of the Cumberland. When General Grant 
took command after the battle of Chickarnauga, Col. Deweese was 
made inspector of cavalry, and charged with the mounting, drilling, 
and equipping of all the cavalry recruits for the military division of 
the Mississippi. He established, near Nashville, a camp of instruc- 
tion, where about fourteen thousand men were equipped and sent into 
the field. 

At the close of the war he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 
regular army, and was ordered to the 8th Infantry, stationed at 
Raleigh, North Carolina, where he remained until August, JS67. 
After the passage of the Reconstruction act he made the first speech 
in the South supporting the measure. On the 27th of March, 
1867, the first Republican convention that met in the South assembled 
at Raleigh, and was addressed by him. For reviewing the political 
course of President Johnson, General D. E. Sickles, then commanding 
the military district, arrested him, and ordered him tried by a court- 
martial. On the matter being brought to the notice of General 
Grant, he released him, and dismissed the court-martial. Mr. De- 
weese resigned his commission in the army, and was appointed by 
Chief-Justice Chase a Register in Bankruptc}', an office which he 
held until his election to the Fortieth Congress. Admitted with his 
colleagues near the close of the terra for which he was elected, he 
was re-elected a Representative from North Carolina in the Forty-first 
Congress. 



iff 



OLIYEH J. DICKEY. 




LIVER J. DICKEY was born in Old Brighton, Beaver 
County, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1823. He was educated 

£,j.^ at Dickinson College, where he remained until the end of 
his junior year, but did not graduate. He studied law with Hon. 
Thaddeus Stevens, and engaged in the practise of the profession in 
Lancaster. From 1856 to 1859 he was district-attorney for Lan- 
caster County. He was elected to fill the vacancy in the Fortieth 
Congress, occasioned by the death of Hon. Thaddeus Stevens. Mr. 
Dickey took his seat in the Fortieth Congress at the beginning of 
its last session, December 7, 1S68. His first speech before that body 
was on December 17, when he announced the death of his distin- 
guished predecessor. The following passage from the introductory 
portion of this address is fitly quoted here : 

" This distinguished statesman was not merely my predecessor in 
this body, but in my childhood my father taught me to admire and 
love hi ni who was the instructor and guide of my youth, and the 
friend of my maturer years. If an intimacy with wise and noble 
men be one of the greatest blessings that can crown a man, then in 
no part of my career have I been so fortunate as in my association 
with Thaddeus Stevens. It was in his office, and in connection with 
him, that I commenced my professional life; and from that moment, 
through the turmoil of many legal and political contests, down to 
the moment when in his last will he selected me to perform the last 
service one man can ask from his fellow, our friendship suffered 
neither diminution nor interruption." 

Mr. Dickey was re-elected by a large majority to the Forty-first 
Congress, during which he was appointed a member of the Commit- 
tee on Appropriations. 



NATHAN F. DIXON". 



^^^ATHAN F. DIXON was born in Westerly, Connecticut, 
tells© May 1, 1812. His father, bearing the same name, emi- 

Ifl^ grated from Connecticut to Rhode Island in 1800, and was 
a Senator in Congress from 1839 to January 29, 1842, when he died 
at Washington. The subject of this sketch prepared for college at 
Plainfield Academy in Connecticut, and graduated at Brown Univer- 
sity in 1833. He attended the law-schools of Yale College and 
Harvard University, and having been admitted to the bar in New 
London in 1837, he engaged in the practise of his profession in Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island. He was, however, passionately fond of 
agricultural pursuits, and devoted much time and expense to the 
improvement of an extensive farm, and stocking it with the best 
breeds of blooded animals. He was a member of the Assembly of 
Rhode Island from 1840 to 1849 ; was a Whig Presidential Elector 
in 1844, and was elected a Representative from Rhode Island to the 
Thirty-first Congress. He was again elected to the General Assem- 
bly of Rhode Island in 1851, and, with the exception of two years, 
held the oflice until 1859. 

In 1863 Mr. Dixon was elected a Representative from Rhode 
Island to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and served on the Committee 
on Commerce. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and 
Forty-first Congresses, during which he served as a member, and finally 
as chairman of the Committee on Commerce. He was a delegate 
to the Philadelphia " Loyalists' Convention " of 1866. He took no 
public part in the deliberations of the Fortieth Congress, made no 
" remarks," and reported no measures, contenting himself simply 
with giving his vote, which was always with the Republican majority. 



OLIVER H. DOOKEEY. 



gf^k LIVER II. DOCKERY was born in Richmond County, 
|pF North Carolina, August 12, 1830. His father, Hon. Alfred 
Dockery, an ex-member of Congress, was a man of promi- 
nence and influence in North Carolina for many years. He gradu- 
ated at the University of North Carolina in 1848, and read law, but 
did not practice, preferring to devote himself to agricultural pur- 
suits. He was a member of the North Carolina Legislature of 1S58 
and 1859. He was an elector for the Union ticket in 1860, canvass- 
ing his district thoroughly and ably for Bell and Everett. He de- 
fended the Union upon the stump with such boldness and ability as 
to win applause even from his political enemies. Under the social 
pressure existing at tli3 South he was for a short time in the Con- 
federate service, but as soon as possible withdrew therefrom and took 
a bold stand for the re-establishment of the national government. 
He was active and influential in the Peace movement of 186-1 in 
North Carolina, under the leadership of Governor Holden, and aided 
materially in the reconstruction of the State. In April, 1S68, he 
was nominated for Representative in the Fortieth Congress from 
North Carolina, and after an animated contest was elected by a 
large majority. Admitted to his seat near the close of the Fortieth 
Congress he served on the Committee on Revolutionary Claims. 
He was re-elected and was placed on the Committee on Reconstruc- 
tion, as a member of which lie was active in his efforts to secure the 
best possible terms for the restoration of the Southern States ; and as 
a member of the Committee on Claims, he urged the payment of 
loyal claimants for property taken for the use of the army. As 
chairman of the Committee on Freedinen's Affairs, he favored 
measures promoting schools and other means for the improvement 
of the colored people. 

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GRE^YILLE. M. DODGE. 




'RENVILLE M. DODGE was born at Dan vers, Massachu- 
J^f? setts, April 12, 1831, and was educated at the Military Uni- 
y< versity, Norwich, Yermont. He emigrated to the west m 
1851, and was employed as a civil engineer on various Illinois rail- 
roads until 1853, when he was appointed Assistant Engineer of the 
Mississippi and Missouri Eailroad, and made the preliminary surveys 
of that road across the State of Iowa. In the fall of 1854 he located 
at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and engaged in mercantile and banking oper- 
ations. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he promptly tendered 
his services to the Governor of Iowa, and was sent to Washington to 
make arrangements for securing arms and equipments for the troops 
of that State. Having succeeded in his mission, he returned home 
and raised the 4th regiment of Iowa Infantry and the 2d Iowa 
(Dodge's) Battery, and was commissioned Colonel of the former. 

In the month of July, 1801, with such force as he had then in 
hand, he marched into North-west Missouri to drive out the rebel 
leader, Foindexter, who with a large force of rebels was threatening 
the southern border of Iowa, and the destruction of the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph Eailroad. Having accomplished the object of this expedi- 
tion he marched back to Council Bluffs, where he completed the or- 
ganization of his regiment and battery, and reported with them to 
General Fremont, at St. Louis, in the month of August. 

lie was soon after ordered to Holla, Missouri, and commanded that 
post until the "Army of the South-west" was organized under Gen. 
Curtis, when he was assigned to command the 4th Division of that 
army, and led its advance in the capture of Springfield, Missouri. 
He commanded the right wing at the battle of Pea Ridge, where he 
had three horses killed under him, and was dangerously wounded. 
For his gallant conduct in this battle he was made a Brigadier-Gen- 



2 GRENVILLE M. DODGE. 

eral, and as soon as lie recovered from his wounds was assigned to 
command the district of Columbus, Kentucky. lie defeated General 
Villipigue on the Hatchie river, captured General Faulkner and hi- 
command near Island Number Ten, and attacked Van Dorn's columi 
at Tuscumbia, Tennessee, capturing many prisoners. In the spring 
of 1803 he brilliantly opened the campaign with the defeat of the forces 
of Forrest, Roddy and Ferguson in several severe engagements. In 
Jul}' he was assigned to command the left wing of the 16th Army 
Corps, with headquarters at Corinth, and made the famous raid on 
Grenada which resulted in the capture of fifty-five locomotives and 
one thousand cars. He rebuilt railroads, organized, armed and equip- 
ped many thousands of colored troops, and fought many battles which 
would require a volume to describe. 

In the spring of 1861, with his command, he joined General Sher- 
man at Chattanooga, and was given the advance of the Army of the 
Tennessee, in its celebrated movement at the opening of the Atlanta 
campaign. He defeated the rebels in many hotly contested engage- 
ments, and saw his splendid services recognized by the Governmen 
in his promotion to the rank of Major-General. 

He was on the extreme left of the army in the bloody battle of 
July 22d in front of Atlanta (in which McPherson fell), and for a 
long time with his corps he bore the brunt of the battle, and, by 
stubborn resistance and heroic bravery, hurled back the advancing 
columns of an enemy confident of success and outnumbering him 
three to one, and, doubtless, saved the army from a serious disaster, 
turning a threatened defeat into a substantial victory. In front of 
his eleven regiments that held the left, he took prisoners from forty- 
nine regiments representing two corps of the enemy. Against this 
great odds he not only held his ground, drove the enemy with terri- 
ble slaughter, capturing a large number of prisoners, but also de- 
tached an entire brigade to assist the loth Corps (General Logan's) 
to retake and hold its works, from which the enemy had driven a 
portion of it. 

On the 19th of August, while superintending an advance of his 
front line, then besieging the city of Atlanta, he fell, dangerously 

3; 



GRENVILLE M. DODGE. 3 

wounded, by a gun shot in his head, and as soon as able to move 
was sent North, where he remained until he had recovered from his 
wound, when he reported for duty to General Sherman, but not 
being considered physically able to take part in the "march to the 
Sea," he was ordered to take command of the district of Vicksburg. 
While en mute for this command he was assigned by the President 
to take command of the Department of Missouri, relieving General 
Rosecrans. When he assumed command of this difficult department, 
the "grave of generals," the troops were in bad condition, and the 
State was overrun with guerillas and rebel marauders. General 
Dodge went to work with great energy, and soon succeeded in bring- 
ing order to the scene of anarchy and confusion. The Departments 
of Kansas and Utah were soon after merged in his command, bring- 
ing additional trouble and responsibilities. The Indians of the 
plains had combined in hostilities, from the British Provinces to the 
Red River on the south. 

General Dodge grasped the numberless and perplexing difficulties 
of his department with a master hand. Although it was mid-winter, 
lie promptly concentrated and put in motion troops who invaded the 
country of the hostile Indians, chastised them and compelled them 
to sue for peace. The guerillas were so vigorously hunted down that 
those who were not killed either fled or surrendered. The rebel 
general Jeff. Thompson, with about 8^000 officers and men, surren- 
dered to General Dodge in Arkansas, while about -1,000 men of 
Kirbv Smith's army surrendered to him in Missouri. At the close 
of the war General Dodge turned over the department of Missouri 
to General Pope. lie subsequently held a general command, em- 
bracing Kansas Nebraska, Colorado, Western Dakota, Montana, and 
Utah. In June, 1800, at his urgent solicitation, he was relieved of 
hi- command and his resignation was accepted. 

lie immediately entered actively upon his duties as Chief Engineer 

of the Union Pacific Railroad to which position he had been previ- 

nsly appointed. As early as 1853 his attention had been attracted 

to the Pacific Railroad enterprise. During that year he surveyed the 

present route west from the Missouri River, and made a report to 

3 7 ^ 



4 GRENVILLE M. DODGE. 

Messrs. Farnham and Durant. The primary object then was to fix 
upon the most feasible route for the Pacific road, and to accommo- 
date the terminus of the Mississippi and Missouri road thereto, in 
order to make a connection. 

In 1859 Mr. Lincoln visited Council Bluffs and consulted with Mr. 
Dodge relative to the Pacific Railroad, at which time all its impor- 
tant features were discussed. In is*;: 1 ,, pending the passage of the 
Pacific Railroad bill, President Lincoln telegraphed to General 
Dodge, then commanding at Corinth, Mississippi, to repair to Wash- 
ington, which he did, and in the interview then had Mr. Lincoln 
decided to fix the initial point of the road at the western boundary 
of Iowa, between the towns of Council Bluffs and Omaha, and the 
bill was so perfected. 

In July, 1866, the Republicans of the Fifth Congres-ional District 
of Iowa, proud of his brilliant war record, and grateful for his ser- 
vices, nominated General Dodge for Congress. The honor was en- 
tirely unsought and reluctantly accepted, as he was at the time at 
the head of his engineer corps, tracing the route of that grand thor- 
oughfare, the Union Pacific Railroad, over the plains. Though he 
made no canvass whatever, being all the while away upon the plains, 
General Dodge was elected over a popular competitor by 4,398 ma- 
jority, nearly 2.000 more than the district had ever before given. 

In the Fortieth Congress Mr. Dodge never occupied the time of 
the House in speaking, and yet was among the most able and effi- 
cient members. As a member of the Committee on Military Affairs 
he rendered the country valuable service, especially in the measure 
for the re-organization of the Army. To his services Iowa is largely 
indebted for the passage of bills to reimburse the expenses incurre 1 
by the State in raising and equipping volunteers and defending its 
borders. He positively declined a re-nomination, and shortly after 
the cloRe of the Fortieth Congress he returned to the plains to push for- 
ward the construction of the Pacific Railroad. He has just enjoyed 
the proud satisfaction of witnessing the completion of that grand 
enterprise, to which the best energies of his life have been given, to 
the success of which no living man lias contributed more. 



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